Spurs made efforts to end what has been a poor week early on when Gareth Bale threatened the Fulham goal after just 6 minutes. The Welshman, who missed the defeat to Inter on Thursday due to suspension, rose highest at a corner only to see his header cleared off the line by Sascha Riether.
The home side had been unconvincing defensively both at Anfield at the San Siro but looked far more like their usual selves in the opening half hour as Fulham struggled to create anything of note. However it wasn't clicking in the final third for Bale and company either, and for both sides chances were hard to come by as the defences stood firm.
Bale was the only player looking likely to wake the game from its dull slumber as he hit an ambitious 25 yard effort over the bar, and the dour performance was drawing some discontent from the locals after Arsenal's win yesterday put Spurs under pressure to get a result.
Fulham began to come into the game in the latter stages of the half with former Spurs favourite Dimitar Berbatov pulling the strings. The Spurs defence was finally made to sweat on 44 minutes when the Bulgarian sent in a dangerous cross from the right, which Hugo Lloris managed to grasp at the second attempt with Bryan Ruiz looking to take advantage after the initial fumble by the French goalkeeper.
Andre Villas-Boas was eager to provide his team with some added potency and introduced Clint Dempsey for a run out against his former side at the expense of Michael Dawson.
That gamble backfired for Villas-Boas as his tactical switch-up left Spurs exposed at the back for Berbatov to take full advantage of on 52 minutes. Riether was turning into a hero at both ends as he ran into space left vacated by Benoit Assou-Ekotto and put a cross on a plate for Berbatov to slide in and put Fulham 1-0 up.
Fulham almost compounded the woes of the home fans when Brede Hangeland sent a header a whisker wide from a corner just before the hour mark.
Despite the wake-up call Spurs still found it tough going to threaten the Fulham goal, leading to Jermain Defoe emerging from the substitutes bench to replace Gylfi Sigurdsson with just under half an hour to play. The change made no immediate impact as Fulham continued to deal comfortably with any Spurs advances.
Eventually Mark Schwarzer was forced into a save of note and what a save it was; Defoe came to life in the 6 yard box to divert a cross from Bale towards goal, forcing the veteran goalkeeper into an absolutely stunning reflex save as the game entered 4 minutes of injury time.
There was to be no grand finish as Fulham held on for their first win in a London derby this season.
As for Spurs they end the weekend having seen Arsenal and Everton close the gap on them in the race for a top four finish, with the Gunners just 4 points behind with a game in hand.
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