Tottenham were far from their fluent best when opening their Premier League season with a 2-1 win at Newcastle last weekend and Mauricio Pochettino will hope to see more from his team when they take on Fulham at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. Recent head-to-head meetings are in Spurs' favour but the absence of Heung-min Son is a blow that will be felt more significantly than many might imagine.
Son, who became an increasingly important figure for Spurs last season, will be absent for the next few weeks as he is representing the South Korea Under-23 side at the Asian Games. The 26-year-old has been selected in the squad as one of three over-aged wildcards as he is keen to earn a gold medal that could earn him special dispensation from the minimum of 21 months military service that every able-bodied South Korean must undertake by the age of 28. In the past, athletes who have performed well for South Korea at the Olympic Games and the World Cup have been allowed to avoid military service.
The absence of Son will be keenly felt by Tottenham as Son appeared in 37 Premier League games last season, scoring 12 goals. Six of those 12 goals were actually match winning strikes and the South Korean star proved to be something of a lucky charm, with Spurs going unbeaten in the ten league games he scored in during the 2017/18 campaign.
Furthermore, Son scored nine of his 12 goals at Wembley Stadium and Tottenham must do without him at a temporary 'home' that is becoming increasingly familiar as delays continue to plague the construction of their new ground. Spurs won 13 of their 18 league matches at Wembley last season, drawing four and losing two.
Recently promoted Fulham will head to Wembley with happy memories of the venue following their victory over Aston Villa in the Championship play-off final in May, although they head into this game off the back of a chastening 2-0 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace in their first Premier League match since 2014.
Things won't get any easier on Saturday as the Cottagers have a dreadful record in meetings with Spurs, losing nine of their last eleven clashes. This will be the first time that the pair have met since Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 FA Cup win in February 2017 and he has now scored four in his last two appearances against Fulham. Spurs fans will be hoping that Kane can get over his August hoodoo and compensate for the absence of the underrated Heung-min Son this weekend.
