Tottenham Hotspur 3 Fulham 1
Harry Kane finally ended his August Premier League goal drought as Tottenham beat Fulham 3-1 at Wembley.
The England captain, so prolific throughout the rest of the season, had never scored in the opening month of a league campaign, but put that right at the 15th attempt to help Spurs seal the points.
Kane struck in trademark fashion in the 77th minute, three minutes after Kieran Tripper had picked up where he left off at the World Cup with a fine free-kick to put his side ahead.
Lucas Moura gave the Spurs the lead with a sublime finish just before the break but Aleksandar Mitrovic levelled for the Premier League new boys shortly after the restart.
But it was England’s World Cup heroes that got the job done to end a week where Tottenham announced an extended stay at Wembley on a high.
Fulham had played at the national stadium more recently than their hosts after winning the Championship play-off final at the end of May, but it was Spurs who started better.
They could have been two goals to the good with only eight minutes on the clock as Moura was guilty of wasting two golden opportunities.
The first came when he somehow put a header from Ben Davies’ cross wide from inside the six-yard box and moments later his heavy touch when through on goal allowed Fulham goalkeeper Fabri to intercept and get fouled in the process.
Hugh Lloris had to make smart saves from Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon, but the Spurs onslaught kept coming with Christian Eriksen missing three opportunities, the second bringing a good save out of Fabri from a free-kick.
Eventually the pressure told as Moura atoned for those earlier misses two minutes before the break.
The Brazilian ran on to a poor clearance to caress a delightful first-time effort into the far corner for his first Premier League goal for Spurs.
If Spurs thought they had got the job done then they quickly realised different after the break.
Mitrovic fired a warning when his low shot from the edge of the area crashed into the post but he was not going to miss his next chance in the 52nd minute.
The Serbian missed Joe Bryan’s original cross from the left, but when Sessegnon played the ball back across goal he had the simple task of heading home from a yard out, so easy he did it from the floor.
Spurs took time to regroup before their assault on the Fulham goal came.
Dele Alli saw an effort cleared off the line while Kane was still hating August at that point when he rammed Eric Dier's delivery against the crossbar.
Trippier’s moment of magic came in the 74th minute when — in his first game since the World Cup semi-final — he sent a 30-yard free-kick over the wall and into the corner.
Kane’s golden moment came soon after as he cut inside from Erik Lamela’s surging run and rolled into the bottom corner.
He should have had a second soon after but he shot straight at Fabri, who was being kept busy at the hosts threatened to run riot in the closing stages.
