Tottenham vs. Southampton
Venue: Tottenham Stadium
Kick off: 3PM
Tottenham Hotspur will look to end a three-game winless run this afternoon when they welcome Southampton to North London in Premier League action.
Spurs’ difficult start to the season continued on Tuesday night when they lost on penalties to Colchester United in the EFL Cup, while the Saints recorded a 4-0 win over local rivals Portsmouth in the same competition.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have struggled thus far this season for consistency and results, with their draw in Greece against Olympiacos and defeat to Leicester City, both games in which Spurs took the lead, highlighting their problems.
Defensively the North London club have lacked the organisation and structure that has been a staple of the Pochettino era, while going forward they have often been profligate, as was the case against Colchester in midweek.
Although Spurs have endured slow starts before under the Argentine, this season’s struggles have increased speculation that the former Saints boss could be leaving Tottenham relatively soon for pastures new in either Manchester or Madrid.
While those rumours of rifts in the squad and players having ‘different agendas’ could continue to affect their performances, it is likely that this game will yield a positive response from Pochettino’s players, with the Argentinian likely to make a few changes.
One such change will be to bring back striker Harry Kane, who has scored nine in nine games for club and country already this season, after he missed the game in the EFL Cup.
Worryingly for the Saints, the England star has a tremendous record against them, scoring eight in his previous nine appearances in this fixture.
Erik Lamela is also likely to be brought back into the side after featuring in all their previous league games, while goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is expected to return after missing the Leicester fixture to be with his wife for the birth of their new child.
Lloris’s leadership, experience and cool head at the back will be essential as Spurs look to regroup and deliver a solid performance against a side who will be comfortable to sit back and hit them on the counter with the pace of Nathan Redmond and Che Adams.
Interestingly, today’s game will be only the second Premier League fixture to have been played at five different venues, with previous meetings taking place at St Mary’s, The Dell, White Hart Lane and Wembley.
Meanwhile, Southampton have also struggled withconsistency this season and they currently sit 13th in the league table having taken seven points from their opening six games.
However, their midweek win over Portsmouth willhave been a boon to the whole squad, not just because of how well they played but because of that fixture’s significance.
The confidence taken from that win certainly puts them in good stead to take on a Tottenham side who have already lost 10 league games this year and are currently enduring one of their worst spells under Pochettino.
Tottenham possible XI: Lloris, Foyth, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Winks, Ndombele, Lamela, Alli, Son, Kane.
Southampton possible XI: Gunn, Cedric, Danso, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Ings, Adams.