Tomorrow afternoon, Tottenham Hotspur will host Southampton for game week 31 of the Premier League season. It is hard to find a game people are less bothered about in recent years – which is impressive given over a season’s worth of games were played behind closed doors.
It all just feels like a slog. Nevertheless, let’s preview our visitors ahead of the game tomorrow, and take a look at what we could expect to see.
How Southampton are looking ahead of the showdown tomorrow afternoon
As many of you will be aware, Southampton are one of the worst sides in Premier League history. Perhaps the worst. They were minutes away from avoiding that tag in midweek, but a late Crystal Palace equaliser meant that they still have some work to do to get above Derby County’s 11 points. Two points from their eight games would be enough to manage to steer clear of the infamous record.
Would it be the most Spursy thing of all time to give them three points tomorrow? Probably. It would still be somewhat Spursy to give them a draw to ensure they are not the outright worst ever team. Given that the Saints are playing to avoid this – in a game played in early April, the side bottom of the Premier League actually have more to play for than Spurs. A very good way of summarising how dismal this season has been.
To be fair, a point against a very resurgent Crystal Palace, whom are in the semi finals of the FA Cup, is pretty respectable. In the game, 6’7 striker Paul Onuachu scored his fourth league goal of the season in just his ninth start. Spurs let 5’10 Enzo Fernandez score a header against them – lord knows what Onuachu might do.
Fans will be familiar with Spurs academy graduate Kyle Walker-Peters, whom has often played as either a right wing-back or as a right sided centre half for the Saints this season. In goal, Spurs fans always enjoy trying to get one over former Arsenal player Aaron Ramsdale. The goalkeeper was out with an injury in the reverse fixture, and had to analyse the game as a pundit for TNT Sports. That was extremely funny.
One more player to look out for is the Spurs linked Tyler Dibling – with the South Coast club reported to be holding out for as much as £100m for his services. No doubt, it won’t be that much, particularly with the player going into the final two years of his contract, but they are setting their stall out early in terms of making sure they get a big fee.