ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Tottenham 2, Fulham 0

THIS WIN marked another step towards the dreamland of fourth place and Champions League football for Tottenham next season.

Chris Smalling, the 20-year-old defender whom Manchester United had announced yesterday would be joining them this summer for a deal thought to be worth about €8 million, was given his second start in Fulham colours by Roy Hodgson. The manager was conscious his team had yet to enjoy a league win in 2010.

Barely a minute had passed when they nearly allowed Spurs to score. Jermaine Defoe offered a flick that ran across the edge of the 18-yard line and which went unchallenged. This allowed Tom Huddlestone to unleash a low, swerving effort which Mark Schwarzer tipped around the post.

There was further evidence of the Spurs play developed under Harry Redknapp, which consists of easy technique and slick touches that relays the ball from back to front at speed.

Yet after Huddlestone had prompted David Bentley to attack down his right flank and Gareth Bale had failed with similar attempts from his left-back berth to involve Luka Modric, the home side nearly conceded.

From a corner by Damien Duff the ball broke back to the winger. He delivered a cross from the right that fell to Bobby Zamora, via Zoltan Gera. The former Spurs forward was close to Heurelho Gomes’s goal but the goalkeeper smothered the shot.

Peter Crouch felt the quality of Smalling’s tackling technique when he dumped the England striker on his backside in front of the team benches.

Crouch, though, wore the grin after 27 minutes. Bentley swung in a high cross with his left foot. The ball broke to Bjorn Helge Riise close to his goal. But the Norwegian was too slow. Luka Modric’s bicycle kick at the ball found Crouch before Schwarzer, and the striker tipped the finish beyond Fulham’s goalkeeper for his fifth league goal.

Spurs emerged from the opening exchanges of the second half having convinced they possessed the appetite to walk away with three points.

The clearest chance arrived when Bentley sliced the ball into the area. Defoe, who had thus far been quiet, found the delivery curving on to his head but though his effort spun goal-ward with power, it was too high.

Fulham’s own attempt to threaten the score-line as the hour was passed had been a give-and-return between Duff and Riise, which placed the Dubliner on a diagonal to the right of Spurs goal. His effort, though was too straight and gathered in by Gomes.

Then, the home side had what they hoped would be the clincher. Bale drew the foul when finding himself in a Fulham sandwich to the left of the visitor’s area. Bentley’s free-kick had dip but after glancing the head of Riise in the wall, it floated beyond Schwarzer and that was 2-0.

Guardian Service

TOTTENHAM:Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Bale, Bentley, Huddlestone, Palacios, Modric, Crouch, Defoe (Keane 81). Subs not used:Alnwick, Hutton, Jenas, Bassong, O'Hara, Rose. Booked: Dawson.

FULHAM:Schwarzer, Hughes, Hangeland, Smalling, Baird, Riise (Davies 64), Dikgacoi, Murphy, Gera (Kamara 72), Duff, Zamora (Elm 79). Subs not used:Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Greening, Kallio. Booked: Kamara.

Referee: Mike Dean(Wirral).