Back to Winning Ways for Tottenham as They Sit in Fourth

Coming off of a loss this past Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur were looking to get back to winning ways against Southampton. Today, they did just that with a 2-0 win and now sit in fourth place heading into Christmas.

Tottenham were looking to get a win after a stoppage time goal from Ayoze Pérez of Newcastle United, ended Spurs’ 14-match unbeaten run. A streak that started following their opening day loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

However there would be another streak that Tottenham currently owns, which has mostly gone unnoticed to many. And that is Spurs’ away record which now stands at seven-games unbeaten (3W-4D-0L) following today’s win at St. Mary’s Stadium. Coincidentally enough, Tottenham’s winning streak away from White Hart Lane happened after losing to Man United to start the season off.

Against Southampton, here’s how Mauricio Pochettino would line up his starting eleven below. A couple of changes were made with Ben Davies getting the start at left-back after Danny Rose would miss out due to illness. Mousa Dembélé would also return after missing the past two games with a foot injury.

Tottenham Hotspur Starting XI (4-2-3-1 formation):

Harry Kane (*) (<<)
Christian Eriksen (<<) — Dele Alli (*) (<<) — Érik Lamela
Mousa Dembélé — Eric Dier
Ben Davies — Jan Vertonghen — Toby Alderweireld — Kyle Walker
Hugo Lloris

Substitutes on the bench:

Michel Vorm
Kevin Wimmer
Nabil Bentaleb
Nacer Chadli (>>)
Tom Carroll (>>)
Harry Winks
Son Heung-min (>>)

Player Icons:
“*” — denotes a goal scored
“>>” — denotes a player being subbed on
“<<” — denotes a player being subbed off

After losing to Newcastle last weekend, to see Tottenham start off today’s game slowly against Southampton in the opening 15 minutes was a worry. It was less about a lack of confidence to get the job done after getting stomach punched by the Magpies at home. But more so, Spurs’ seemed to approach the early part of today’s game very slow and methodical on purpose.

Tottenham will usually be the team that starts off fast but tends to lose steam in the second half and at the worst possible time. Perhaps Mauricio Pocheettino decided to try doing the opposite: start slow, take timely shots if there were any chances and play keep away when they had possession of the ball.

Or maybe, Southampton were that much better than Tottenham early on, and Spurs finally started to settle in around the 20th minute of the first half.

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In any event, from the opening whistle the Saints were intent on getting the opening goal and they nearly succeeded on one golden opportunity but Hugo Lloris’ save denied them after 15-20 minutes of hard work.

With five minutes left in the first half and Spurs already having the edge, they would finally break through and get the opening goal on a clinical finish by Harry Kane following a fantastic run through the Saints’ lackluster of a defensive effort after a foul on Dele Alli.

It would have seemed that once Alli went down, Southampton expected the play to be called back, it wasn’t and play continued. Harry Kane would run past two defenders’ challenges and set up a 1-on-1 with the ‘keeper and put away a 40th minute goal.

Then under three minutes later (2:50) Dele Alli would double Spurs’ lead off of a fine low cross by Kyle Walker with the Saints’ defense once again letting goalkeeper, Paulo Gazzaniga, down. At first glance, Alli looked to be offside, but in actuality he was clearly onside and was able to finish off his shot inside the six-yard box.

With the game standing at 2-0 in Tottenham’s favor, outside of a second great scoring opportunity by Southampton, the game was essentially over. Spurs were the better time following a slow start and the Saints seemed to have tailed off and fallen flat after a promising beginning.

Here are the final stats of the game between Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur.

Full-time Stats:
Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur
11 — Total Shots — 13
4 — Shots on Target — 6
18 — Fouls Committed — 9
1 — Yellow Cards — 1
0 — Red Cards — 0
5 — Offsides — 1
4 — Corners — 7
51% — Possession — 49%

Now here are some interesting notes regarding Tottenham.

Game notes:

Harry Kane made his 100th appearance for Tottenham today
In Spurs’ three previous losses in all competitions this season, Tottenham have won
Harry Kane’s goal against Southampton was the first of his Tottenham career
Kane’s 40th minute goal, is his ninth goal in his last 11 Premier League appearances
In 100 appearances for Spurs, Kane has scored 47 goals
Harry Kane has now scored 11 goals this season
Dele Alli’s 43rd minute goal is his third in his last six Premier League appearances
Alli has now scored four goals this season
Tom Carroll made his third consecutive appearance for Tottenham
Son Heung-min hasn’t started a Premier League game since Chelsea (11/29/15)
Hugo Lloris picked up his sixth clean sheet of the ’15-’16 Premier League season

Up next for Tottenham is a home fixture against Norwich City on Boxing Day. As usual, every single game this season, regardless of the opponent, will be a tough game. And Norwich is no exception as they beat Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford. Now, while the Red Devils are currently on a winless streak during their past six games in all competitions (0W-3D-3L) and their form is clearly off from the looks of it, it’s always difficult to earn wins in the Premier League for any team.

Next: Matchday: Southampton 0-2 Tottenham

Lest we forget, Tottenham dominated Newcastle United in the first half after the Magpies beat Liverpool 2-0 on December 6th and yet they still lost. That being said, Spurs should take these past two games to heart, analyze it, learn from it and use it to their advantage. So that means don’t fall flat during the second half if you’re ahead early. And don’t panic if you’re on the defensive from the very beginning of games.

Back to Winning Ways for Tottenham as They Sit in Fourth Place

By Alexander Balano | Dec 19, 2015

Coming off of a loss this past Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur were looking to get back to winning ways against Southampton. Today, they did just that with a 2-0 win and now sit in fourth place heading into Christmas.

More from Hotspur HQ