Fulham face the mighty Spurs on Sunday – but Denis Odoi thinks it will be nothing more than a ‘fun’ occasion.
The Belgian right-back and his mates face the stiffest FA Cup challenge so far, although the last time the two sides met in the famous old trophy, Whites thumped the north London variety 4-0 in 2011.
Odoi will also run into another set of pals: those from the national Belgium set-up he’s partnered in the past.
Chances are Mousa Dembele, he of the Tottenham type, rather than the Celtic forward and a former White as well, could feature along with defender Toby Alderweireld.
“It will be a fun game for everyone but also for me - some Belgian players play at Tottenham,” he said. “It’s always good to see those guys. It’ll be a nice game, especially at home.
“I play with them in the national team, I know them from back in the days. We will see.
“I don’t know if they’re going to play, but it’s a nice game.”
Odoi and co face the Premier League high fliers off the back of two 3-2 home wins this week.
They had to come from behind in both cases against Wigan and Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, results that will turn boss Slavisa Jokanovic’s beard appropriately white if there are many more repeats.
For the second time, the Fulham gaffer made plain his ire at sloppy defending.
“We didn’t play a brilliant game against Forest, but at the end after a very soft start to the game where we found some problems, we overcame this situation to win,” he rapped.
“These last two games at home we conceded four goals. Both teams put us in stressful situations without pushing us in the box to defend.
“We made mistakes and after this kind of situation it’s not easy for us.
“We need to do better in this kind of situation. I have to be happy with the last 10 minutes when they pushed and took the risk and sent on many strikers in the pitch. We were solid and strong enough to survive this.”
He added: “We changed our tactic after 20-something minutes because it was very clear our plan didn’t work at the beginning. We weren’t good enough.”
And that 2011 win over Spurs?
A brace of penalties from Danny Murphy, and one each from Brede Hangeland and the aforementioned Dembele before his £15 transfer to Tottenham in August 2012, more than did the job.
Bookies are offering 28/1 for the same result on Sunday.
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