While it’s not the battle between two Champion’s League chasing teams that we might have expected just a few weeks ago, the meeting of Southampton and Tottenham still has plenty of meaning for the two teams. Europa League football is pretty much assured for both, and that’s a good reward especially for the south coast club, who were marked down as a relegation candidate last summer. Tomorrow the supporters will show their appreciation for first year manager Ronald Koeman by wearing orange, and you can bet that it isn’t a coincidence that they chose tomorrow’s match for the occasion. Former boss Mauricio Pochettino would love to leave tomorrow with the three points and the catcalls stuck in the throats of the home fans.
As for the match itself, Spurs come into it on the back of a fine win, and an especially impressive second half performance, at Newcastle. This was after a few uninspiring outings where it looked like the team was ambling to the finish line, but if they are to win here, they will need a full 90 minute display. As for Southampton, they recovered from a damaging defeat to Hull by besting Stoke at the Britannia Stadium, and now they are back at home where their record is formidable. Kyle Walker is expected to be the only injury absentee for Spurs.
Predicted Line-Up (4-2-3-1):
Goalkeeper : Hugo Lloris
After recovering from his injury against Leicester, he should be ready to assume duties from Michel Vorm. While Vorm didn’t let anyone down, the defence can only feel confidence that france’s number one is between the sticks.
Defenders: Eric Dier, Federico Fazio, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose
I can’t see any changes made from last Sunday, even if fans would like to see DeAndre Yedlin given a full game. Dier looked solid defensively but doesn’t attract attention from the opposition and that can hurt whoever plays for us on the wing. Would Yedlin’s pace open things up for Lamela and the others?
It was good to see Fazio and Vertonghen’s partnership resume last week. They complement each other well and our record in games where they both start is very impressive.
Midfielders: Nabil Bentaleb, Paulinho
Again no change here. Paulinho was a surprise choice last week but gave a performance good enough to be crowned Man of The Match by the Sky Sports crew, and surely he will get a chance to build on that display. As for Bentaleb, he had looked tired over the last few weeks, and in the first half against Newcastle too, then he suddenly started to control the game and was the source of almost all our good chances.
Attackers: Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Nacer Chadli
I’m in two minds about the Lamela pick; he had a rough game on Sunday but improved towards the end of the game, while also assisting our clinching goal. He probably didn’t do enough with the ball to warrant inclusion here, but for such a game I could see Pochettino backing him to help on defence more than Townsend and hopefully earning confidence from the good things he did in the last quarter of the Newcastle game. The other two are no-brainers; Chadli was a big factor in the win after a quiet few weeks, while Eriksen can run the game as long as the others hold their positions and make the right runs.
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Striker: Harry Kane
Not much more to say about him is there? Now that he has gotten the 30 goal mark off his back we should see him play a much more carefree game, and if the others can keep up the level of performance that they showed recently, he should find plenty of success. A final record of 35 goals might not be out of the question, nor a match winning strike here.
