Tottenham v Fulham: Scott Parker fumes at 'scandalous' decision to hold game at short notice

ByBen Snowball

Updated 12/01/2021 at 14:00 GMT

Scott Parker is furious at the Premier League’s decision to make Fulham play Tottenham Hotspur after an outbreak at Aston Villa, Spurs’ original opponents. Fulham are in the relegation zone after 11 games, three points from safety but with two games in hand on the 17th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion.

Fulham boss Scott Parker says the decision to make his side play Tottenham on Wednesday at short notice is "scandalous".

Parker claims the club first learned about a possible fixture reshuffle on Saturday afternoon, with the schedule change confirmed on Monday.

The Cottagers were drafted in to play Jose Mourinho’s side in the Premier League after Aston Villa, Spurs’ original opponents, suffered a Covid outbreak.

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"The possibility of playing Spurs came Saturday afternoon. I didn't think that would be possible and then got told Monday morning at 9:30 we would fill in for that fixture," said Parker.

To confirm that on Monday morning is scandalous.

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However, those comments are unlikely to sit well with Spurs boss Jose Mourinho, who was livid when the original game with Fulham was postponed three hours before kick-off on December 30 due to another Covid outbreak at Parker's side.

"Are you serious? They had 48 hours to prepare for this game. Look, I had the news I was not going to play them two hours before the game started," said Mourinho.

Parker says he may have fielded a different team against QPR in the FA Cup third round and tweaked the recovery of players returning from Covid if he had known about the Spurs game.

"You're constantly working out well in advance. The decisions I would have made with QPR, or the players who are just coming back. We've had it tough with Covid. That's quickly changing Monday morning. It's madness really," Parker continued.

"Getting a game called off is irrelevant. That is disappointing. To have a game agreed at 48 hours’ notice... Spurs knew they had a fixture. He [Mourinho] planned for that. Would this have happened with two of the biggest teams in a title clash? Probably not."

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