Tottenham capitulation at Southampton dampens top four hopes

Open second half favors the relegation club over the hapless Spurs defense

Almost immediately after the second-half kickoff, Southampton was level, and the game was well and truly on.

Only 30 seconds into the second half, Clement Lenglet and Ivan Perisic were not on the same page as they let the ball and Theo Walcott just breeze right past. Walcott then sent the cross to Che Adams, who was behind Cristian Romero to deflect the ball into the net past Fraser Forster, who had failed to cut the cross – although he tried. We had a football game at one-one, which was good for the neutral but not so great for Tottenham.

As the game opened up, you could see more goals were coming; the question was how many and for who. Then there were three goals in the space of about twelve minutes on the clock, and the game’s complexion completely changed.

Things started when Dejan Kulusevski – who had come on for an injured Richarlison in the first half – hit a sweet cross in from the right to Harry Kane, who finished with aplomb past Bazunu into the net. The 2-1 lead had Spurs feeling good and on the upswing.

At this point, Spurs smelled blood in the water and amped up the pressure seizing on their momentum. Spurs had nearly 65% of the possession between their two second-half goals as they went looking for the kill.

Tottenham was a bit fortunate as the Saints failed to clear a corner, and Perisic struck a wonderful volley that bounced past Bazunu for Spurs’ third on the day.

At this point, things changed for Tottenham as the team mauled Perisic celebrating his first Spurs goal in some 36 appearances.