The Football Faithful
·15 de diciembre de 2024
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Yahoo sportsThe Football Faithful
·15 de diciembre de 2024
Tottenham face bottom-of-the-table Southampton as they try to bounce back from a tough spell.
Both sides like to play expansive football and will be sensing vulnerability in each other this weekend.
Southampton have a slight advantage over Spurs having had a full week’s rest after their narrow defeat to Aston Villa. Russell Martin will continue to be without Jack Stephens after he was shown a straight red card for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair in the defeat to Chelsea.
Aaron Ramsdale is nearing a return from a broken finger, but this weekend’s game is likely to come too soon.
Tottenham were in action in the Europa League during the week as they earned a hard-fought point at Rangers. Yves Bissouma is ruled out through suspension for the Lilywhites after picking up his fifth yellow card of the campaign against Chelsea.
Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies remain out, but the latter’s hamstring injury isn’t as severe as first feared.
Southampton: LLDLL
The Saints are rooted to the foot of the table and are now seven points adrift of safety.
Despite frustrating Aston Villa last weekend, Jhon Duran’s goal condemned Southampton to a narrow defeat.
A deserved point at Brighton already feels like a long time ago, with Chelsea having thrashed Martin’s side 5-1 at St Mary’s since that result.
With their fellow relegation contenders all picking up points, Southampton need to start getting results to have any chance of survival.
Tottenham: DDLLD
Spurs have only triumphed once in their last eight games in all competitions.
Substitute Dejan Kulusevski salvaged a point for Tottenham in Europe against Rangers on Thursday with an accurate finish into the bottom corner.
Ange Postecoglou will be demanding his players win this game as they currently lie in a disappointing 12th position in the Premier League.
Aside from their two comprehensive victories away to the Manchester clubs, Spurs have lost four and drawn one of their Premier League away games this campaign.
A late James Ward-Prowse penalty sealed the end of the Antonio Conte era at Tottenham Hotspur.
Southampton found themselves in the midst of a relegation battle when they welcomed Spurs to St. Mary’s Stadium.
Pedro Porro scored his first goal for the Lilywhites in first-half stoppage time with a rasping finish off the crossbar to give his side the advantage.
However, within a minute of the restart, Che Adams restored parity as he tapped home from close range.
The visitors then raced into a two-goal lead courtesy of a Harry Kane header and a volley from Ivan Perisic. But in customary fashion, the Spurs defence would unravel to allow a struggling Southampton back into the contest.
Former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott was left unmarked in the box to slot past Fraser Forster. In second-half stoppage time, Pape Matar Sarr made a grave error as a rash kick for the ball ended up striking Ainsley Maitland-Niles and a penalty was given. Ward-Prowse dispatched the spot-kick with aplomb to earn his side a point.
That draw prompted Conte to conduct a full-blooded rant in his post-match press conference. His passionate tirade included criticising the players and the ownership of the club. He was relieved of his duties shortly after.
Southampton: Lumley, Sugawara, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Walker-Peters, Manning; Fernandes, Downes, Dibling; Onuachu, Armstrong.
Tottenham: Forster; Spence, Dragusin, Gray, Udogie; Bergvall, Sarr, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Johnson.
Darren England will be the match official. He will be assisted by Neil Davies and Akil Howson while Sam Barrott will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Paul Tierney and he will be assisted by Richard West.
Southampton vs Tottenham will be shown on TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate and Discovery+.
Kick-off at St. Mary’s Stadium will be at 19:00 GMT on Sunday 15th December 2024.
Southampton – 10/3
Draw – 7/2
Tottenham – 4/6