I discovered Eriksen

Tottenham 3 Fulham 1

The Tottenham chairman squandered the proceeds of Gareth Bale’s world record transfer last summer on players who have largely failed to make the grade at Spurs, with the exception of Christian Eriksen who was outstanding in the defeat of Fulham.

Eriksen cost €12m from Ajax, but Spurs could have got him for much less five years ago if Levy had listened to Sherwood.

“I watched him playing as a 17-year-old for Denmark at Wembley and rang Daniel Levy the next day to say we have to sign this boy. Now £10m later he is here and it is all good news,” said a smiling Sherwood.

“Perhaps Daniel didn’t follow up on it. He doesn’t follow up on every player I tell him about because there are probably too many. But he’s been a great acquisition.”

Less impressive is Roberto Soldado, signed for €30m, who has lost his place to local boy Harry Kane, a Sherwood protege. Like teenager Nabil Bentaleb, Kane has been given a chance by Sherwood and grabbed it with both hands, scoring in three successive games since making his first Premier League start two weeks ago.

Sherwood insists Kane, Eriksen and Gylffi Sigurdsson are the three players who work hardest in training.

“You have to drag them off the training field. It’s about practice. I tell the guys that Andy Murray doesn’t just go out and hit cross-court winners when game-day comes, he practises it. If you don’t practise it every day, how can you expect to do it on the big stage when the pressure is on?”

Eriksen was Tottenham’s best outfield player once again, dictating play and setting up goals for Paulinho and Younes Kaboul with superb free-kicks that Fulham’s woeful defence could not handle. “He’s just turned 22 but has the mind of a 35-year-old. He knows when to speed it up and when to slow it down. Harry Kane’s very similar. I’ve watched his development and he knows when to drop off or when to run beyond. They are very astute.”

Sherwood semingly has only three more games as Tottenham manager, and Fulham may have only three more games in the Premier League unless they learn to defend better.

They got back into this game through a first-half equaliser from Steve Sidwell, who then had a penalty saved by Hugo Lloris late in the game. While Lloris was superb, Fulham’s defence was poor and captain Brede Hangeland knows they need to improve if they are to repeat the Great Escape they managed under Roy Hodgson six years ago.

“It can definitely happen again. We know it is possible. But we could have done better defensively. We need to get back to the training pitch and work really hard. Hopefully that will see us through.”

TOTTENHAM: Lloris 9; Naughton 7, Kaboul 6, Fryers 7, Rose 6; Lennon 7, Chadli 6, Paulinho 6, Eriksen 8; Kane 7, Adebayor 6.

Subs: Dembele for Chadli 67, Soldado for Kane 78, Townsend for Eriksen85.

FULHAM: Stockdale 6; Heitinga 5, Hangeland 6, Amorebieta 6, Riise 6; Kacaniklic 6, Parker 7, Sidwell 7, Kvist 6, Dejagah 6; Rodallega 6.

Subs: Karagounis for Parker 55, Zverotic for Heitinga 65.

Referee: Lee Probert.