Spurs take untroubled route to the summit as Fulham offer scant resistance

Tottenham (1) 2 Son 36, Maddison 54

Fulham (0) 0

With the MC lauding Tottenham's best start to a season since the title winning era in his pre-match address and boasting of a won six, drawn two record after eight, the scene was set for a deflating anticlimax.

But home fans need not have worried. Their team sauntered to a comfortable win that takes them to the top of the table - that new-found optimism under Ange showing no signs of dipping as the dartboard celebration got another airing.

Fulham, who defeated a weaker Spurs line-up in the Carabao Cup on penalties not so many weeks ago, barely laid a glove on their north London opponents this time around.

The Tottenham xG was soon into overdrive, with shots and James Maddison free-kicks around the area soon mounting up and the visitors doing their best just to hang on.

New darling of the fans, Micky van de Ven, hooked just over from a Cristian Romero nod-down, Bernd Leno got well behind a piledriver from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Richarlison drilled wide from inside the D after a great run by Dejan Kulusevski, Maddison and Son combined beautifully inside the box to almost score again through a marauding Destiny Udogie - and on it went.

Fulham's needed something to make it feel like they would not be mere fall-guys in Tottenham's rise to the top of the Premier League and when Joao Palhinha headed powerfully after a corner, they felt a little better about themselves.

But the increasingly impressive Guglielmo Vicario sprang left to keep out the effort and did not have too many more saves to make after that. A late offering from Raul Jiminez was confidently thwarted.

Something had to give and when Fulham got in a tangle at the back with a loose pass from Calvin Bassey, Richarlison pushed the ball through to Son Heung-Min and the Spurs skipper's muscle memory kicked in as he curled into the top corner.

The South Korean initially looked offside but replays showed Tim Ream playing him on from the far side.

That was the cue for Spurs to pile more bodies forward in search of more road kill.

They did not have to wait long after the restart to double their lead - Son turning provider by slipping the ball through for Maddison to virtually pass the ball into the far corner.

That prompted Maddison's now-very-familiar imitation of an arrow homing in on double top and Son joined in.

Marco Silva cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines and none of his changes in personnel could alter the dynamics. In contrast, Postecoglou could afford to hook Maddison, Son and Richarlison with 10 minutes to go, such was the ease of the evening's work.

The next assignment - a visit to Crystal Palace on Friday night - was clearly on the boss' mind long before the end of this one-sided affair.

Spurs: (4-2-3-1) Vicario - Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie (Emerson Royal 56) - Sarr (Skipp 62), Hojbjerg - Kulusevski, Maddison (Veliz 82), Richarlison (Johnson 81) - Son (Lo Celso 81)

Whites: (4-3-3) Leno - Castagne, Bassey, Ream, Robinson - Lukic (Reed 72), Joao Palhinha (Cairney 82), Pereira (Iwobi h/t) - Decordova-Reid (Wilson 62) Vinicius (Jiminez h/t), Willian

Attendance: 61,286