Fulham take on depleated Tottenham

Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri will face Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur for the sixth time in his managerial career. Though for Fulham fans worrying reading is that he’s only beaten the Argentine once, drawing three and losing the other.

Ranieri has seen limited success since taking over from Slaviša Jokanović back in November, the Italian was supposed to save the west London club but as of yet, his Premier League side are struggling. They most recently lost 2-1 to Burnley despite their opponents having no shots on target.

Tottenham will be looking to get over losing 1-0 to Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s in-form Manchester United side, prior to that though they did beat Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and have been consistently performing well.

Ryan Babel could make his debut for Fulham as he looks to tackle life back in the Premier League following his switch from Besiktas. Kevin McDonald is unlikely to play much of a part after it was announced the midfielder will be allowed to leave on loan.

Tempers have flared recently between two of the Cottagers’ forwards, top scorer Aleksandar Mitrović and Aboubakar Kamara argued over a penalty against Huddersfield then, days ago, had to be pulled apart during a yoga class.

It is doubtful that either men will be punished for the debacle with the side sat in 19th and desperate to move closer to Premier League survival.

Alfie Mawson has still not been given a timeframe to return as he suffers setback after setback on his recovery from his knee injury while André-Frank Zambo Anguissa could return from his knee injury.

As for Tottenham, they’ve suffered a huge blow as it was announced this week that the England star Harry Kane had suffered an ankle injury which has seen him out three times in as many seasons.

Back up for the attacker is very limited with Heung Min-Son at the Asian cup while Lucas Moura could be a risk to start as he is only just back from his knee injury. Fernando Llorente and Vincent Janssen could be in the frame to start the earlier is more likely than the later.

Mousa Sissoko was also confirmed to be injured this week as the in-form midfielder suffered a groin strain, his injury has also come at a poor timing as Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier are out, though there is hope Dier could return to face their London rivals.

Mousa Dembélé has left the club after he signed for Guangzhou R&F, which leaves Harry Winks as the only fully fit centre midfielder though it is likely Dele Alli or Christian Eriksen will slot in.

Last time the two sides met was in August when Tottenham beat Fulham 3-1 at Wembley Stadium, the hosts scored via Moura, Kieran Tripper and Kane while Mitrović scored for Fulham. This was the game that saw Kane end his goal drought.

Top Goalscorers:

The hosts leading scorer is Serbian striker Mitrović whose scored three against their upcoming opponents in his career, he’s also scored eight this season which means he leads André Schürrle by two goals.

Spurs have just lost both their top goal scorers at the same time, as mentioned before England attacker Kane is injured though he has scored the most with 20 goals in 31 matches.

While Heung Min-Son is at the Asian cup and has 12 in 28 games, leaving Brazilian winger Moura as the next best scorer with eight in 28 appearances.