Tottenham 3 Fulham 1: Christian Eriksen admits delight at helping Spurs to victory after Hugo Lloris saves him from penalty blushes

Eriksen laid on goals for Paulinho and Younes Kaboul but his handball gave Steve Sidwell the chance to score a second from the spot, only to see Lloris save his tame effort

Christian Eriksen was delighted his free-kicks played a part in a 3-1 victory for Tottenham against Fulham - but thanked goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for rescuing him at the other end.

The Denmark international fizzed in two deliveries from wide which were too hot for the Fulham defence, allowing Paulinho and Younes Kaboul to score.

Eriksen told BT Sport: "(I wanted to hit them) hard enough, with enough pace to be difficult for defenders.

"The first was just a cross, the second I really went for goal but it was lucky."

Harry Kane headed the second in between times but Steve Sidwell replied for Fulham and then saw a penalty saved by Lloris after Eriksen's handball.

"I was a little bit nervous but luckily Hugo made the save," said Eriksen. "We have to thank him for what he did in this win today, and all season."

Kane's goal was his third in as many starts and he was thrilled to repay coach Tim Sherwood's faith.

"It's been great to get some starts and three in three is great," he said.

"I'm happy to be playing. You've got to take your chances at the very top level and I've been able to do that when I've been playing."

Tottenham 3 Fulham 1 match report

The build-up to the match was dominated by speculation over Sherwood's future beyond this season, but Kane said: "Everyone gets on well with him.

"He's a great manager, we've been getting good results and scoring a lot more goals."

Sherwood, asked about his chances of remaining in charge next season, said: "I'm not convinced, I'm not unconvinced. I'm not shocked by the speculation - I'm shocked it's only one manager (linked with the job) today!

"It's once a day. You take it on the chin, the club have decided not to say anything on that and it's not for me to comment."

Out-of-favour midfielder Sandro took to Twitter earlier to tell fans: "Good morning Guys, just to let you know that i'm not injured ! Hope that we can win the game today."

And Sherwood responded: "What he's stating is correct, he's not selected at the moment.

"I don't think he's good enough to be in the side at the minute, when he shows me he's up to the level of the other players he'll be back in the squad.

"I like Sandro as a player but he has to work hard to be back in the side."

Fulham boss Felix Magath labelled his side's battling performance "quite good, but not good enough", adding: "Tottenham were the better team and won."

But looking at their battle against relegation, he insisted: "If we had got any points here, it would have been an extra point for us.

"We have to win our home games and I think we can manage it."

PA