Ange Postecoglou gets it wrong as Dejan Kulusevski starts for Tottenham v Fulham
Ange Postecoglou could regret his decision to start Dejan Kulusevski for Tottenham against Fulham after the Swede’s performance against Aston Villa last time out.
Spurs have made the short trip across London for a Premier League clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage (16 March).
Victory against Marco Silva’s side would see Tottenham move above Aston Villa and into the Premier League top-four with Villa set to take on West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday (17 March).
Ange Postecoglou’s side recorded their biggest win of the season last time out with a 4-0 win at Villa Park (10 March) against their rivals for UEFA Champions League football.
Spurs will therefore arrive full of confidence that they can add three more points to their tally and move one step closer to qualifying for the Champions League next season.
However, after seeing Postecoglou’s team selection, which was posted to the club’s official X account (16 March), some supporters might not share that confidence.
Dejan Kulusevski luck to start over Timo Werner for Tottenham at Craven Cottage
Of all of Spurs’ forward players who started against Villa, Kulusevski was by far the most underwhelming.
As per Sofascore, while the 23-year-old did grab a late assist when he set up Son Heung-min, that one big chance was about all that he created.
Kulusevski completed just 77 per cent of his passes, and although two of them were key, it wasn’t enough to make up for what was a rather underwhelming display elsewhere.
Of the four crosses into the box which the Sweden international attempted, he completed just one of them and also failed with both of his dribble attempts against Emery’s side.
Finally, he gave the ball away 19 times and was dribbled past once and the winger will therefore consider himself lucky to start over Werner, who came off the bench against Villa and completed 80 per cent of his passes while also scoring with his only shot on target.
It marked back-to-back games in which the German has found the back of the net following his goalscoring display in the 3-1 home win over Crystal Palace (2 March), where he also completed 92 per cent of his passes and 100 per cent of his dribbles.
As a result, the 27-year-old on-loan Spurs forward will feel slightly frustrated that he hasn’t managed a start since that display.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs are well-positioned in the hunt to sign the “best” young player from one European side.
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