Hello football fans and welcome to White Hart Lane where we have Premier League sides do battle, Tottenham Hotspur hosting Fulham.
Spurs have Manchester City in their sights, just five points ahead of them in second place on the EPL table and have a chance today to close the gap to two points.
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90+2 MINS: Four minutes of added time. Tottenham pump it long into the box in desperation. Schwarzer will be happy if they continue that line. Defoe has sparked the front for Spurs since making his appearance. Bale limps when something goes wrong.
89 MINS: Is this three defeats on the bounce for Tottenham? Demsey finds Bale... Defoe waits, great cross WHAT A SAVE! How did Schwarzer save that!? VIDEO UP.
88 MINS: Fulham are very organised at the back as home fans start leaving White Hart Lane. Late corner though may have them turning back again... great clearance with the head by the imposing Hangeland.
86 MINS: Tottenham don't seem to have the answers today. Another run and another cross from Naughton and it's too deep again. Too deep or too short, it's been like that the whole game. Ruiz then finds room for Fulham and fires it back posts, Dejagah tries to fire it back into the penalty spot but there was no one arriving anyway. Gareth Bale is hobbling again!
81 MINS: Fulham are right in this to take the three EPL points. What a result for them that would be as Villas Boas fires some instruction toward Bale. The manager is less than happy.
77 MINS: Dempsey gets a yellow card for a challenge on Karagounis, and it's Karagounis's last act as he leaves, now with stud marks across his stomach who he's showing to everyone who wants to look.
73 MINS: Carroll with a teasing through ball and Schwarzer is quick enough to get there ahead of Bale. Bale starting to limp again. Naughton whips one in 30 seconds later but Adebayor can't time the jump or the header and it sprays wide.
69 MINS: Defoe with a shot from point blank range and it's a smart save by Schwarzer... it came from Caulker who made his way to the byline. First real test in goal for the Fulham keeper. VIDEO UP.
66 MINS: Tottenham now hunting and their general play is good, until it comes time to get the ball into the middle and it all falls down today. Parker's ball is picked off and suddenly Dejagah is swinging his legs over the ball to try and put off the defence and he wins the corner at the other end of the pitch. Helped on by Senderos and flashed across the goal by Sidwell. VIDEO UP. Dembele going off for Spurs and Carroll is on.
62 MINS: Fulham right in this but it's Tottenham's turn to counter as they sweep the length of the field to win a corner of their own. Here comes Defoe and Sigurdsson is off. Poor from Spurs as the ball falls well short.
57 MINS: Ohhhh Hangeland just wide. From a corner delivered by Karagounis, there's a flick and Hangeland has plenty to aim at at the back post and should have tucked it away and doubled he lead for Fulham. VIDEO UP.
55 MINS: Suddenly there's a spark to this match. Needed a goal. Sidwell with a shot, takes a deflection and Lloris has to adapt quickly to take the ball just above his head.
52 MINS: Better from the home side, Parker onto Sigurdsson, off to Bale and his shot right at Schwarzer on the hop. Break... GOAL at the other end and Fulham lead 1-0. Great pace by Riether and he finds Berbatov who tucks it past Lloris. Props to Dejagah who sent Riether away with some nifty footwork first. VIDEO UP.
49 MINS: Bale with a strong run in his blues boots down the left, testing that Achilles or ankle out and it looks good to go.
48 MINS: Bale has a change of boots... gone are the yellow ones he went down with in the first half and out in the second spell are blue ones. Football fashion brought to you by...
46 MINS: Clint Dempsey is on for Tottenham and Dawson is off... they are looking for more attack are Spurs. Sidwell with an early shot for Fulham but it's never a danger.
44 MINS: Caulker on the dribble looks promising but he ran into trouble when confronted by... oh hold on, more importantly, Gareth Bale goes down injured.... he's hobbling to the sideline and we'll give you more info soon. He's back on now albeit rather gingerly. VIDEO UP
40 MINS: I'd love to put up more highlights, but there have been none - disappointing. Saving everything for the second half? Let us all hope. Even when Ruiz plays an incisive ball through to Riise the cross let's the through ball down.
36 MINS: Now that's more like it with Assou-Ekotto playing a beauty to Vertonghen and he's able to scoot down the left and in behind Fulham, swinging in a peach of a ball with his left only for no one to be arriving at the back post. Adebayor a touch late on Karagounis... oh he's making a meal of it - get up ya mug we're over that rubbish. He's rolling around in pain, gets a touch from a player, looks up and suddenly there's no pain on his face... then back on with the pained expression. Wally.
33 MINS: That was a little more adventure from Fulham as they probe left then right, down both flanks and square until Berbatov again plays one straight into touch.
31 MINS: Nobody for Tottenham yet to really get in behind the Fulham defence to provide the killer cross. Most are being delivered from deep.
29 MINS: Vertonghen the most likely so far to be the provider of a half decent ball. He whacks one in and Hangeland gets a knee up and away with it.
28 MINS: Fulham spreads it wide well and for a split second have Spurs stretched before they regroup. I'd like to say this one is full of intrigue, flair and exotic EPL emotion combined with glorious skill and ferocious fight but, I can't.
24 MINS: Bale's challenged following some lovely interplay from Spurs, the ball falling to Sigurdsson who tries a volley but it was alwasy going to be hard as it flew across his body. Duff then penalised for a handball near the corner flag when a cross was being whipped in. Tough one to defend against.... but it's headed well wide, out to Parker who cracks one, it's dipping but never worries Schwarzer in the Fulham net. VIDEO UP.
19 MINS: Karagounis has a nasty cut on his hand as he clashes with Scott Parker. The medics are on strapping him up. Fulham now with all the ball for the last three or four minutes until their caught offside. Other than that, not a lot to write home about going on.
14 MINS: Eerily quiet at White Hart Lane. Maybe a reflection on the match, as Fulham have their first venture forward... Sigurdsson breaking it down. After starting brightly, this one has become disjointed very fast. Berbatov is picked out by Ruiz and then plays a ball straight into touch in search of Dejagah. Fulham now wins a corner. A strong head clears. Dejagah in the book after a tug on the shirt and hooking both legs around Dembele.
10 MINS: Fulham yet to work their way into the match while Spurs are pushing high. Bale with 10 goals in the last 11 EPL games. Vertonghen getting plenty of chances down the left, but his delivery hasn't matched his ability to get space, the Belgian a little frustrated early doors.
6 MINS: Vertonghen crosses and it's a scuffed clearance from Senderos out for a corner. Great ball in and Bale with the header, flicked from the near post, and it was goal bound before Riether cleared, heading off the line. VIDEO UP.
4 MINS: Vertonghen with the charge forward down the left, a give and go and he gets to the byline, only for his square to be blocked. He's hobbling a little now, clutching at a left hamstring.
1 MINS: Bale on the charge early on with a header that just gets away from him and Spurs win their first corner of the match. It's swung in dangerously and about eight heads go up for it in a packed area. It's flicked away... then moment later Bale pops up again on the edge of the area and tries to take a shot on, bending one well wide.
Spurs (from): Lloris, Friedel, Walker, Naughton, Gallas, Dawson, Caulker, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Holtby, Livermore, Dembele, Carroll, Parker, Huddlestone, Sigurdsson, Bale, Dempsey, Defoe, Adebayor, Coulthirst.
Fulham (from): Schwarzer, Somogyi, Etheridge, Riether, Hangeland, Hughes, Senderos, Riise, Dejagah, Baird, Karagounis, Kacaniklic, Frimpong, Davies, Richardson, Frei, Mesca, Enoh, Berbatov, Sidwell, Duff, Ruiz, Emanuelson, Rodallega, Petric.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Andres Villas Boas knows his side is a little tired after their recent matches across competitions.
"All the squad will be tired this weekend having played ninety plus thirty extra time. Playing on Sunday there will be time to recover, but all the players will be tired because of tonight. We have the mental motivation to recover better because we got the qualification to the quarter finals."
But he has a superstar to call upon.Gareth Bale returns after sitting out the trip to Inter Milan due to suspension. Bale has been in sublime form prior to his rest
Aaron Lennon should return to the starting line-up after he came off the bench in Milan following his recovery from a hamstring injury. Clint Dempsey (calf) is expected to be available, but defender Younes Kaboul and midfielder Sandro (both knee) are out.
Jol has an unchanged squad for Sunday's match. Steve Sidwell has shaken off a knock picked up since their 2-2 draw against Sunderland a fortnight ago. But Mahamadou Diarra is still missing with a knee injury which could rule him out for the rest of the season.
Via: [Live Football] US Grosseto - AC Cesena - Italian series Bwin
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