Tottenham Hotspur lost more ground in the Premier League after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Fulham.
After an even first half, Spurs went ahead against the run of play at the start of the second period when Brennan Johnson volleyed in for his 10th goal of the season.
Ange Postecoglou’s team never hit the heights of last weekend’s 4-0 victory at Manchester City and Fulham claimed a deserved leveller through substitute Tom Cairney before he was sent off late on via a VAR review.
Spurs dropped to seventh, with Fulham still a point behind in 10th.
The hosts were already without seven players and lost Dominic Solanke to illness on the morning of the match, but could have taken the lead inside 60 seconds.
Timo Werner latched on to a wayward pass by Calvin Bassey and found Son Heung Min, but his low effort was saved by Bernd Leno.
Leno was one of four ex-Arsenal players in a Fulham line-up which did not include Andreas Pereira after his recent eye-catching comments about his future.
Even without Pereira, the visitors made a strong start with Raul Jimenez off target with an early header before a loose touch by the Mexican forward allowed Fraser Forster to block bravely in the 17th minute.
Chances remained few and far before Forster thwarted Jimenez again with a fine low save following Kenny Tete’s superb cross.
Tottenham, with chief creator Dejan Kulusevski only on the bench, lacked fluency in attack but went close when Radu Dragusin had a header tipped over from Son’s corner.
Not long after, Fulham almost went ahead as Reiss Nelson passed into Alex Iwobi, but his rising shot was tipped onto the crossbar by Forster three minutes before half-time.
There was still time for James Maddison to send a clever free-kick under the wall and yet Issa Diop got a faint touch to send it wide via the post to ensure it was goalless at the break.
It was Fulham who returned with renewed purpose for the second period, with Forster again called into action to first deny Diop’s back-post header from Nelson’s cross.
Moments later Forster had to block from Iwobi after Spurs made a mess of another Nelson cross, but they did finally click into gear in the 54th minute to break the deadlock.
Spurs worked the ball out wide to Werner and he cut inside before he floated a superb ball to the back post where the unmarked Johnson volleyed home.
Fulham boss Marco Silva reacted with the introduction of Harry Wilson and Cairney, which paid off five minutes later.
Another slick move down the left saw Antonee Robinson release Iwobi, who checked back and teed up Cairney to rifle home after 67 minutes.
Postecoglou sent for Kulusevski and he was involved as Fulham were reduced to 10 men with seven minutes of normal time left.
Cairney was shown an initial yellow card, but VAR replays showed he caught Tottenham substitute Kulusevski down the back of his calf with his studs up and he was sent off.
However, Spurs could not find a winner.
PA
