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Mourinho laments Spurs inability to ‘kill’ games after latest draw with Fulham

Spurs rearranged fixture with Fulham ended with an all too familiar sense of frustration for Jose Mourinho as the Portuguese coach once again saw his side drop points from a winning position, drawing 1-1 at home against their London rivals.

Scott Parker’s visitors started much the brighter of the two sides and midfielder Frank Zambo Anguissa forced Hugo Lloris into a solid early stop with a rasping left-footed strike from the edge of the area.

It was then Spurs’ turn to work the opposition goalkeeper, with Fulham’s Alphonse Areola twice denying attacker Son Heung-Min with superb close-range reaction saves.

It became clear Spurs had awoken from their slumber and on 25 minutes they would go ahead through England skipper Harry Kane, the 27-year-old striker meeting Sergio Reguillon’s perfectly weighted cross and hammering a diving header in off the post.

Fulham’s all-round play was impressive once again during the second period, but they struggled to create much in the way of clear cut chances and on 70 minutes Spurs would have a golden opportunity to score that killer second goal. However, Son scuffed his left-footed effort after being played through by Tanguy Ndombele and the ball dribbled agonisingly past the keeper and back off the post.

So often this season Spurs have thrown away leads late on in games and once again that most unwanted of habits reared its ugly head. On 74 minutes Fulham forward Ivan Cavaleiro rose highest to power home a header from substitute Ademola Lookman’s excellent cross for a deserved equaliser.

Spurs thought they had won it right at the death although Reguillon’s close-range strike was ruled out, with Son offside just before he squared the ball to the Spaniard.

Mourinho is bound to come in for plenty of criticism with his side having now won just once in their last six Premier League outings, and speaking afterwards the 57-year-old admitted inability to get that killer second goal once again cost them.

“In the first half Alphonse Areola made some impossible saves, couple of others in the second [half], too,” Mourinho told BBC Sport.

“We have to kill the game and we didn’t – but you have to keep a clean sheet, not make mistakes, so it was a very avoidable goal. The markers are there, there wasn’t even an advantage in terms of numbers.

“They were intelligent enough to understand the way they play, they change, they become more defensive and they are getting results. I thought they were a bit lucky but they were good.

“We have bad results and we should – and we could have – avoided these results.”

Next up for Spurs is a trip to Brammall Lane to face basement boys Sheffield United.

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