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Football London
Football London
Sport
Scott Trotter

Fulham's clash with Tottenham helps prepare them for Chelsea and Manchester United challenges

Fulham may not have been able to keep Harry Kane from adding to his tally of goals at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium but did manage to keep Son Heung-min quiet.

The duo have 23 goals and 16 assists between them and have shown themselves to be among the fiercest attacking force in the Premier League.

The Cottagers will face another of the league's top striking forces, with the second and third top goalscorers in Chelsea and Manchester United.

Scott Parker wants to see a repeat of his side's efforts against Spurs in the coming games.

He said: "Last night you're up against a deadly partnership. I'm not sure there's a better combination the amount of goals they've assisted and scored. You're always going to go to Tottenham and need your defence to put in a performance.

"The games coming up for us Chelsea like you said, a squad full of players and attacking line with an abundance of quality and the same with Manchester United.

"We need to stand up and relish those challenges, look forward to them, embrace them which we did last night, which we have throughout. Leicester away was a tough game as well. We need to do the same against Chelsea and try to get some points out of the game."

Since Parker established a change in tactics for the Whites with five at the back against Leicester City, and the defence has seen marked improvement since. One such benefactor of that change was Ola Aina who found his place to the right of Joachim Andersen as part of a central trio.

Parker was complimentary of his development.

He said: "Concentration, the detail in his work. A player that needs rhythm. A player that came into us from Italy and who struggled a little bit when he first came in. I'm sure he struggled a little bit with the intensity of training and what was asked of him. I knew his quality when he was at Chelsea as a young player and I think everyone has seen that now.

"Ubelievable defender Ola. He's done remarkably well. I wanted him to brush up on his detail in his work in terms of the care and the detail of his passing and body shape when he's defending. I think he's done that. He's been very open minded, he's always engaged and he's always willing to listen and understand things. That's a reflection on him and we're seeing the rewards from that."

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