LONDON – Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min said that he and his teammates needed to look in the mirror after a damaging 3-0 loss at Fulham on March 16 cast doubt on their Premier League top-four credentials.

Victory would have put them ahead of Aston Villa into the guaranteed Champions League berths but they produced a limp display as Rodrigo Muniz scored twice for the Cottagers at Craven Cottage.

“It is very disappointing and very frustrating. Everybody has to look in the mirror and say ‘it is my fault’,” said Son, who wasted one chance when the score was still tied at 0-0.

“It was not good enough. We didn’t put in the effort we have put in this season. The performance, the attitude was not good enough. Everyone needs a big wake-up call.”

The performance was all the more surprising given Tottenham’s clinical 4-0 win at Villa in their previous game and defeat also ended their run of scoring in every Premier League game this season.

Son was certainly not mincing his words.

“In the Premier League if you are not ready you get punished. Aston Villa are an amazing team, but so are Fulham. If you are not giving 100 per cent you get punished. You don’t get three points for free,” the South Korea forward added.

“This is two steps backwards. We now need to step forward. It is unacceptable, including me it was unacceptable.

“We are representing Premier League teams, we are representing Tottenham. This was not close to what we have been doing this season. It is very sad to watch this. The fans don’t deserve this. Losing this was very tough.”

Muniz broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute and scored again just past the hour mark to finish off Tottenham after Sasa Lukic had doubled Fulham’s lead shortly after the interval.

It completed a notable home double for Fulham over Spurs after they also knocked them out of the League Cup and this was also a first league win against the north Londoners in 10 meetings.

“In the second half we didn’t get to grips with the game. The intensity dropped,” Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou said.

“But it’s more the overall play that was disappointing. There are things we’ve done all year we’ve prided ourselves on, our intensity and tempo, but that wasn’t there in the second half.”

For Fulham it was their ninth home win of the season.

“A great win for us,” manager Marco Silva said. “We were the best team on the pitch and deserved the three points against a really good side.” REUTERS