Tottenham drop points as Tom Cairney strike earns Fulham a draw

Tottenham 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 and Fulham almost went ahead as Reiss Nelson passed into Alex Iwobi, but his rising shot was tipped on to the crossbar by Forster three minutes before half-time.

There was still time for James Maddison to send a clever free-kick under the