Fulham’s London derby with Tottenham on Monday night was delayed due to travel chaos in the capital.
The Premier League and both clubs agreed to push the 8pm kick-off time back 15 minutes. The decision came with the District and Circle underground lines being suspended, causing difficulties for supporters of both clubs attempting to reach Craven Cottage.
The Hammersmith & City line and the Elizabeth line were also suspended. Signal failures were at the heart of the chaos. A brief statement from Fulham confirmed: “Tonight's kick-off has been delayed by 15 minutes due to local travel restrictions.” Spurs added: “Kick-off in tonight's Premier League fixture at Fulham has been delayed until 8.15pm due to transport issues.”
Spurs had earlier advised supporters to check alternative routes, listing ways fans ways could get to the stadium on their website.
A TfL spokesman said: “We apologise to customers this evening for the significant disruption to their journeys. This was caused by a signalling failure and engineers are working as quickly as possible to restore a normal service.”
Antonio Conte’s men arrived in west London looking to bounce back from last week’s North London Derby defeat at home to Arsenal and their failure in the 4-2 loss at Manchester City. Club captain Hugo Lloris, culpable on goals in both of those defeats, remained in goal, while Ben Davies returned to defence at the expense of Clement Lenglet.
Brazil international striker Richarlison had to make do with a place on the bench once more, with Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane leading the attack.
Fulham made one change from their 1-0 loss at Newcastle United in their last league outing, with USA international Antonee Robinson replacing Layvin Kurzawa. The Cottagers, only promoted last summer, knew that victory would see them leapfrog their visitors into fifth position in the Premier League table.
Victory for Spurs, amid increasing questions over the future of Conte once more, would see them move within three points of the top four.
