James Maddison: “Fans have made me feel at home... things like that don’t go unnoticed”

James Maddison expressed his delight at opening his account at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in our 2-0 win against Fulham on Monday night and paid tribute to our fans for making him so welcome at Spurs.

The playmaker expertly slid home from Heung-Min Son’s pass to make it 2-0 on 54 minutes after Sonny had fired us into the lead on 36 minutes, both goals coming from our high press, Micky van de Ven and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg playing key roles as we turned Fulham clearances into goals.

The win took us back to the top of the Premier League as we stretched our unbeaten run to nine matches, winning seven including four out of four at home.

Vice-captain ‘Madders’ has started impressively with three goals and five assists in those nine games, contributing much, much more and forging an immediate relationship with our fans.

Asked on the Review Show what it was like to score that first goal in N17, James told us: “It was amazing, a great feeling. I kept seeing that stat that all my goal contributions were away from home, so I’m delighted to put that one to bed.

“It was a brilliant feeling, a great pass from Sonny, I knew I couldn’t snatch at it, I really wanted that first goal here but it’s important in moments like that that you stay calm, and I just slotted it away nicely in front of the South Stand, which was brilliant, a great feeling.

“I always just try to play football the way I love to watch football. That’s how I’ve always played. I like to create, I like to excite people, create and score goals.

“The fans have taken to me well and I really appreciate it and it’s vice-versa, me to them, they’ve been brilliant to me, made me feel at home so quickly, so welcome and things like that don’t go unnoticed. It helps me settle in so quickly and to hear them chanting my name was a heart-warming feeling.”