Tottenham will travel to Southampton this weekend for a crucial Premier League match that could have implications at both ends of the table. The Saints are currently at the bottom of the league, but they are only two points away from safety and have shown improvement under manager Ruben Selles. However, they have only scored two goals in their last five league matches and have lost five of their last ten home games against Spurs.
Meanwhile, Tottenham are in fourth place, four points clear of fifth-placed Newcastle, despite losing nine times this year. They are in a battle for a place in the Champions League, with just nine points separating them from ninth-placed Fulham. A win against Southampton would be a big boost heading into the international break for Harry Kane and his teammates.
The Premier League clash is scheduled for Saturday, March 17, with kick-off at St Mary’s set for 3pm. Unfortunately, this fixture will not be televised on UK screens due to the 3pm blackout in English football. However, highlights will be available on the Sky Sports website and app shortly after the end of the match and then later on Match of the Day. TalkSPORT will have updates from St Mary’s as part of GameDay Live from 3pm, with Adrian Durham taking listeners through all the goals from the Premier League, EFL and beyond, including Southampton vs Tottenham.
The hosts will be without Tino Livramento and Juan Larios as both continue their recovery from long-term injuries. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is a doubt with a knock, while former Tottenham defender Kyle Walker-Peters could miss out with a hamstring issue. James Bree is on standby to fill in for the ex-Spurs man. Meanwhile, Hugo Lloris, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Ryan Sessegnon are all out. But Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has no other injury concerns and could name an unchanged XI from the one that beat Nottingham Forest.
Conte has said that he does not expect to be sacked this season, stating that he believes the club appreciates what he and his staff are doing for Tottenham. Since their return to the Premier League in 2012, Southampton have won just two of their 10 Premier League home games against Tottenham. Tottenham are looking to complete the Premier League double over Southampton for the seventh time, something they’ve only done as often against Man City, Aston Villa and Everton.
Southampton have scored at least once in each of their last 14 Premier League games against Spurs, since a 2-0 home loss in December 2015. However, they’ve kept just one clean sheet in their last 21 against them, a 1-0 win in January 2020. Between December 2019 and January 2021, Southampton won five of six Premier League games against sides starting the day in the top four of the table. However, since then they are winless in 15 such games, conceding 43 goals and scoring just nine in return.
Spurs have won eight of their last 10 Premier League games at 3pm on Saturday, losing the others against Leicester and Wolves this season. They beat Southampton in this kick-off slot on the opening weekend, last facing a side in both Premier League meetings in Saturday 3pm games in 2017-18 (D1 L1 vs West Brom and W2 vs Stoke). In all competitions, Tottenham have lost each of their last four away games, the last three of which without scoring. It’s Spurs’ longest run of away defeats in succession since May 2019 (5 in a row), while not since January 1983 have they lost four straight away matches all without scoring (a run of 5).
Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse has been involved in more Premier League goals against Tottenham than he has any other opponent (8 – 4 goals, 4 assists). He opened the scoring for Saints in the reverse fixture this season but hasn’t scored home and away against Spurs in the same campaign before. Tottenham’s Harry Kane has been directly involved in 17 goals in 15 Premier League appearances against Southampton (11 goals, 6 assists), only having a hand in more against Leicester (22 – 18 goals, 4 assists). Kane is one goal away from scoring 10 away Premier League goals in a seventh different season – no other player in the competition’s history has done so more than four times.
Tottenham’s Son Heung-min has scored more Premier League goals against Southampton than he has against any other opponent (10). The Korean has scored 99 Premier League goals overall and would be the first Asian player to reach 100 in the competition. Against no side has Richarlison scored more Premier League goals than he has against Southampton, with his five goals coming in his last seven games against them. The Brazilian is yet to score in 18 Premier League appearances for Tottenham, however.