After their frustrating 2-2 draw with Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur are preparing to host the all confident Ronald Koeman’s Southampton.
Tottenham were leading with 2 goals in hand till half time, but the side gave away the lead, and gave away the title as well. The title is gone, but they will need to concentrate on the remaining fixtures to maintain their hold on second ahead of rivals Arsenal. Southampton on the other hand, had a great motivating victory against Manchester City, where Sadio Mane’s hattrick helped the side to thrash the Citizens by 4 goals to 2.
The last time these two sides met, Tottenham had a comfortable victory over the Saints and managed to finish the game with a score line of 2 goals to nil. Tottenham are currently 2nd on the table, and a loss might risk their position as Arsenal are just 3 points behind them. Furthermore, Southampton are currently 7th on the table and a win would equal them up with Manchester United who are 5th.
Tottenham vs Southampton Team News-
Mousa Dembele joins Dele Alli in the list of suspended players for Spurs, while Nabil Bentaleb and Danny Rose are injured.
Toby Alderweireld is not fully fit, but he is expected to make it to the starting line-up in time. Club still have doubts over Danny Rose’s fitness, but we hope to see him in the action this Sunday.
Southampton, on the other hand, do not have any major injury issue as Florin Gardos is the only player missing for the Saints
Lineups-
Tottenham-
Lloris
Walker; Alderweireld; Vertonghen; Rose
Dier; Mason
Lamela; Eriksen; Son
Kane
Southampton-
Forster
Martina, Fonte, van Dijk, Bertrand
Wanyama, Classie
Mane, Davis, Tadic
Long
Stats-
- Tottenham Hotspur have won six and lost none of their last seven Premier League meetings with Southampton.
- Saints have lost just two of their last eight Premier League away games (W4 D2 L2).
- Spurs have lost none of their last seven Premier League matches at White Hart Lane, winning five.
- Southampton need just three points from their remaining games to equal their best ever points total in a Premier League season, which was set last season by Koeman (60).
Sadio Mané has scored seven goals in his last six Premier League games for Southampton; this after a run of 19 league appearances without finding the back of the net. - Harry Kane has scored 14 goals in his last 15 Premier League appearances for Spurs.
- Ronald Koeman’s side have collected 33 points in 2016, behind only the current top two in the Premier League (Leicester 38 and Tottenham 35).
Stats via Skysports
Tactics-
Tottenham will surely continue their high pressing style against the Saints as well, but as we saw from the performance of Southampton, their first 2 goals against Citizens came from long balls, and that’s the only flaw of the pressing style that it leaves the space for the attacker to make a run.
Southampton look confident and will try to continue their fine run of form. I’m pretty sure that Tottenham will dominate the possession in the game, but Southampton will look to snatch the ball inside Tottenham’s box to launch a counter.
Tadic and Mane are the threats for Tottenham’s defence and both have a quality to set up a nice move. The holding midfielders will have a tough time to stop the duo from making their runs inside the box.
Prediction-
Again a tricky game, a win for Southampton will bring them closer to the top 5 finish, and a win for Lillywhites will guarantee their 2nd spot in the league. Both teams have some great names in their squad, but I personally think that Southampton will hold Pochettino’s men for an entertaining draw.
2-2 Draw