AVB: weariness not a reason for defeat against Fulham

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas played down the suggestions that his side’s shocking 1-0 home defeat against Fulham is due to weariness after a Europa League encounter against Inter Milan.

The Spurs failed to cement their bid for Champions League zone finish after they suffered eyebrow-raising defeat against the crosstown rivals due to Berbatov’s goal against his former side.

The Portuguese revealed Tottenham’s defeat was just an unfortunate occurrence. He said: “It was difficult and it is two defeats in a row in the Premier League and we wanted to avoid that because we were on a good run. We had a decent game, but we couldn’t create as much as we normally create at home offensively. So our main chances were at the beginning in the first half and late in the second half, but we couldn’t create as much as wanted to to take the win. It was one of those defeats we have to reflect on. The desire and effort was there, but things just didn’t go our way in terms of football.”

Villas-Boas said he does not think the weariness was a reason for the Spurs’ underperformance: “No. We played lots of players who were not involved recently and had a couple of fresh legs on the pitch - five at least.”