Tottenham wins Fulham - 1:0

Jermain Defoe goal gave Spurs the win over Fulham in the London derby.

Defoe scored early on collecting Ledley King's long pass and steering his shot past Fulham goalkeeper Tony Warner. Warner kept his side in the game with a series of superb saves, notably to deny Mido when the Fulham keeper tipped the Egyptian's incisive shot over the bar.

The visitors had plenty of possession but were unable to replicate Spurs' cutting edge, though Claus Jensen did hit the bar after a sweeping move. Steed Malbranque was Fulham's most dangerous player, the Frenchman causing havoc down the Spurs left. Malbranque in tandem with the marauding Moritz Volz gave Young-Pyo Lee plenty of problems as Fulham searched for the equaliser.

Spurs' Korean full-back looked impressive going forward, but less comfortable defensively. Early in the second half Malbranque went agonisingly close with a swerving shot that he hit first-time after he was found by Luis Boa Morte. Paul Robinson could only watch as Malbranque's effort went over the bar, but the Spurs goalkeeper proved his worth to deny Tomasz Radzinski from close range soon after.

Following the embarrassment of losing to Grimsby in the League Cup last week, Spurs had begun the game brightly. Lee's ambitious shot almost surprised Warner, who was forced to concede a corner. On eight minutes Warner got an even bigger shock when King's long pass from deep in his own half completely bypassed the Fulham defence as they tried to play the offside trap.

Defoe quickly brought the ball under control before guiding his shot past Warner into the corner to score his first goal in five games. Fulham almost replicated Spurs' success with the long pass but Tomasz Radzinski's first touch proved too lax.

The visitors persisted with their adventurous attacking approach and Claus Jensen rattled the Spurs bar after exchanging passes with Malbranque. Just before the half-hour Warner produced a superb reaction save to tip a Mido shot over the bar after the Egyptian striker had combined well with Defoe. Warner then produced another instinctive stop to beat a Edgar Davids' half-volley and early in the second half he got down quickly to save from Aaron Lennon.

The defeat left Fulham just one place above the relegation zone, two points ahead of bottom-placed Everton. Spurs' win saw them jump five places to fourth, nine points behind Chelsea, BBC Sport reports.

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