Fulham Vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 2011 Premier League: Spurs Lead 2-0 At Halftime In Game Marred By Injuries

It's been an odd first half between Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage - one dominated by the hosts but with both goals scored by Spurs with a pair of injuries rather marring proceedings. Martin Jol's men came close early, with only a very good save by Brad Friedel preventing Steve Sidwell from opening the scoring inside the first two minutes following a flicked header at the near post, but it was Tottenham who scored on their first real attack of the game.

A searching ball from Emmanuel Adebayor found Kyle Walker steaming up from right back and the ball eventually worked its way to Gareth Bale cutting in fromn the left. The Welsh winger drove in a ball back across the face of goal that bounced off Chris Baird's knee and in. Bale's probably going to be credited with the goal, but it was more Baird's than his, so enh.

Fulham were still very much in the match at 1-0 and Clint Dempsey ought to have done far better when released one on one with Friedel in the 23rd minute only to shoot weakly at the goalkeeper's legs. By this time we'd already had our first injury of the evening, Sidwell swinging an elbow into Scott Parker's face and covering the England man with a veritable torrent of blood. Parker would require extensive treatment, but continued to play (surprise!).

Grygera's problem marked the end of the first half, and quite literally added injury to insult as Aaron Lennon had made it 2-0 against the run of play, taking on and beating the entirety of the Fulham defence before sweeping a neat finish past Mark Schwarzer. Fulham probably don't deserve to be down 2-0 - I think Spurs have had two chances the whole match, but the visitors have taken their opportunities and the Cottagers haven't. It's hard to see a comeback on the cards, but you never know.