Premier League

FULHAM 1 (Llorente 17 OG)
SPURS 2 (Alli 50, Winks 90+3)

THIS could be a costly victory: with Spurs down to their bare bones, the celebrations that greeted a last-second Harry Winks winner today at Craven Cottage against a struggling Fulham side must be tempered by the worrying sight of Dele Alli withdrawing with what looked like a hamstring injury.

The last thing manager Mauricio Pochettino needs is another mainstay of his side in the treatment room, with Harry Kane out for some time and Son Heung-min away with South Korea.

Alli looked in some pain. It doesn’t bode well as the big games come thick and fast.

Pluses might be drawn from the fact it was one of the squad’s least-used players who helped secure a victory that gives Tottenham the best away record in the league. Kevin Nkoudou, an outcast who is rarely in the first-team squad, created the winner that Winks finished. It was cruel on a limited Fulham side.

Speaking after the final whistle, goalscorer Winks said: “It was a blur, a great moment.

“It has been too long since I last scored and we needed to bounce back after [losing to Manchester] United. We knew it would be a tough game. We had to dig in.”

He added that Pochettino had asked his side to be more adventurous in the second half after watching a disappointing opening 45. He encouraged wing-backs Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier to push forward, leaving the bulk of the defensive duties to the back three of Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen.

Winks added: “The manager told us to keep believing, keep playing. He changed a couple of things to get us higher up the pitch and it worked out.”

The warning signs this would be no pushover where there from the off. On 12, Ryan Babel got the better of Davinson Sanchez: his near-post effort was pushed away by an instinctive hand by Hugo Lloris.

Babel, making his debut for Fulham, was a handful.

But it was another centre-forward with plenty to prove that the focus was on. Fernando Llorente, used sparingly by Pochettino, led the line and it started badly for the player who was said to be on the verge of a move to Atletico Bilbao before Harry Kane bashed up his ankle ligaments.

On 16 minutes a corner came in, he sliced at it and his attempted clearance nestled into the corner of Lloris’s goal. He looked utterly dejected and it is too his credit that he huffed and puffed to make amends. Halfway through the first half, the forward got on to a Jan Vertonghen cross but his header was a nice height for Fulham keeper Sergio Rico. Then he turned a shot wide at the near post, his radar askew.

Pochettino’s half-time talk sent his players out into the cold January evening with more intent: on 50, Alli met a well-placed Eriksen pass to nod home from six yards.

Spurs pushed but Fulham defended in numbers. Then came the Alli injury and the introduction of forgotten man Nkoudou.

It would be a switch that paid dividends.

As the game entered stoppage time, Nkoudou wriggled into space. His ball went deep, Winks popped up and headed home.

It keeps Spurs third, four points above Chelsea, but the cost of this win will be apparent when the prognosis on Alli’s injury is given.

Spurs: Lloris, Trippier, Rose, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Winks, Lamela (Dier, 78) Llorente, Alli (Nkoudou, 84) Eriksen.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Nkoudou, Foyth, Davies, Skipp.

Fulham: Rico, Odoi, Chambers, Mitrovic, Babel ( Sessegnon, 54) Ream, Schurrle (Kebano, 71) Le Marchand, Christie, Bryan, Seri (Cisse, 80).
Subs: Bettinelli, Cairney, Ayite, Vietto.