Southampton vs Tottenham LIVE!
Spurs head to the south coast tonight to take on bottom-of-the-table Saints looking for a reprieve from their miserable recent form. Just one win in eight across all competitions has seen Spurs drop to 12th in the Premier League standings, and prompted real doubt over Ange Postecoglou’s future in the job amid a crippling injury crisis.
Another error-strewn performance against Rangers in midweek did little to calm the under-pressure manager Postecoglou, who has since singled out loanee forward Timo Werner for criticism, or an “assessment”, for his performances. Will he start tonight? Heung-min Son is expected to revert back to the wing and Lucas Bergvall could start in midfield.
Southampton are, by a distance, the worst team in the league this season with just one win and five points to their name after 15 games, so should play the role perfectly for Spurs tonight. Anything else and Postecoglou will be facing serious questions. Follow the game LIVE below with our dedicated match blog, featuring expert insight and analysis from Dan Kilpatrick at St Mary’s.
19:07 , Alex Young
6min: Saints have reacted well to going behind. No heads dropped and pushing Spurs back.
19:06 , Alex Young
What a brilliant start for Djed Spence, who made that goal for Maddison with a superb turn, run and pass. No hint of hesitation from the full-back on his first Spurs start.
19:04 , Alex Young
3min: Spurs fans are drowning out the home support.
19:04 , Alex Young
2min: This is the 12th match in which Southampton has conceded first. They have lost 10 of the previous 11.
19:03 , Alex Young
1min: Maddison fires home after just 40 seconds!
Spence with a superb turn and drive through the the Southampton midfield and then slides in Maddison to score.
Perfect start for Spurs.
19:01 , Alex Young
1min: Here we go!
18:57 , Alex Young
Here come the players. Not long now.
18:51 , Alex Young
“We’ve got to be respectful of [Southampton] and make sure that we impose our game on them and force them into things they don’t want to do.
“There’s no doubt that they can cause anyone problems, and we have to be ready for that.”
18:44 , Alex Young
It is a sign of the state of Ange Postecoglou’s squad (and perhaps Southampton’s struggles this season) that Djed Spence and Lucas Bergvall start in the Premier League for the first time this evening.
If the pair prove they can perform at this level, it would be a big boost for Postecoglou, improving the head coach’s options over the packed festive schedule before his more established stars begin to return in the new year.
18:41 , Alex Young
Players going through their final drills now.
18:35 , Alex Young
A remarkable end to the Manchester derby sees United score two late goals to beat City and climb above Tottenham in the Premier League standings.
Spurs must win to finish in the top half tonight.
18:26 , Alex Young
An interesting name on the bench for Spurs is Maeson King, a 16-year-old.
He’s a left winger turned left-back (what’s called the reverse Bale) and has a name which is quite popular at the club.
18:11 , Alex Young
Another big test for Gray tonight.
18:04 , Alex Young
Southampton make four changes, with McCarthy and Bednarek back from injury and Aribo and Sulemana given the nod.
It’s five changes for Spurs, who hand a first Premier League start to Bergvall and a first start ever to Spence. Bold call for an already inexperienced defence.
Porro and Johnson are on the bench, while Kulusevksi, Sarr and Solanke all come in. Werner, as expected, drops to the bench.
17:54 , Alex Young
Southampton XI: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Manning, Fernandes, Aribo, Downes, Dibling, Armstrong, Sulemana
Subs: Lumley, Bree, Wood, Sugawara, Lallana, Amo-Ameyaw, Archer, Fraser, Onuachu
Tottenham XI: Forster; Spence, Gray, Dragusin, Udogie; Sarr, Bergvall, Maddison; Kulusevski, Son; Solanke
Subs: Austin, Porro, Dorrington, King, Hardy, Olusesi, Werner, Johnson, Lankshear
17:47 , Alex Young
Starts for Djed Spence and Lucas Bergvall!
17:45 , Alex Young
The hosts!
17:36 , Alex Young
Team news in under 10 minutes.
17:23 , Alex Young
Southampton boss Russell Martin admits his side’s Premier League points haul so far this season is “incredibly hurtful and embarrassing”.
The Saints are rock bottom of the table having only accumulated five points during the current campaign, with their only win of the season coming against Everton last month.
He said: “We shouldn’t be on the points we are. It’s incredibly hurtful and embarrassing that we’re only on five points, we should have more.
“But there’s been a few too many mistakes, a few too many moments we haven’t managed well and disappointments in games and setbacks, so we have to keep trying to grow.
“Grow as a group, grow individually and prepare the players for those moments where it’s tough and what to do and find ways to cope and manage emotionally.”
17:15 , Alex Young
Ange Postecoglou is not currently considering bringing a premature end to Timo Werner’s loan spell at Tottenham.
Postecoglou fumed that Werner’s performance against Rangers was “not acceptable” as he replaced him at half-time with Dejan Kulusevski.
The Tottenham boss appeared to double down on those comments during a subsequent press conference held before Sunday night’s gamr, insisting that they were an “assessment of his performance” rather than intended as criticism.
Tottenham are said to have previously held a £15million option to buy Werner permanently, while they can now sign him for £8.5m next summer – the chances of which now happening seem very slim indeed.
“Right now that is the furthest thing from my mind,” Postecoglou said when asked if Werner could return to Leipzig early in January. “I’m just not interested in what happens next. I’m interested in what happens now.
“Now is the time we have an opportunity. In these next five games between now and New Year we can set up our season.”
17:06 , Alex Young
In fairness to the Saints, their performance in the recent home game against Liverpool was proof that they can spring a surprise on any given day. But too often this season they’ve given away cheap goals and lessons don’t seem to be taken on board.
This is arguably the perfect fixture for Spurs to play themselves into some form ahead of the huge Carabao Cup quarter-final meeting with Manchester United next week, as there’s a good chance to fill their boots.
Tottenham to win, 4-1.
16:57 , Alex Young
Spurs are used to playing on Sundays after Europa League games on Thursdays, but they have an unusual kick-off time at St Mary’s this weekend.
The match has been selected for TV coverage by TNT Sports and was originally scheduled for a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday.
It had to be moved to Sunday after Spurs played Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday, but could not clash with the two Sky Sports games on Sunday.
Sky are showing Brighton vs Crystal Palace at 2pm, followed by the Manchester derby at the Etihad at 4.30pm.
As a result, the Spurs game has been given a 7pm kick-off on the south coast.
16:50 , Alex Young
Archie Gray will continue at centre-back for injury-hit Tottenham.
Postecoglou has said Spurs are facing the biggest injury crisis of his managerial career and Gray will start alongside Radu Dragusin at the heart of the defence, with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies all out.
Pedro Porro has been looking increasingly tired in recent weeks and Postecoglou must be considering bringing Djed Spence into the team.
Yves Bissouma is banned after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in last weekend’s 4-3 defeat to Chelsea.
Rodrigo Bentancur continues his Premier League suspension so Postecoglou has a big decision over the make-up of his midfield.
Lucas Bergvall is pushing for his first Premier League start after impressing in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Rangers.
In attack, Postecoglou must decide whether to stick with Timo Werner after calling out his “unacceptable” first-half performance against Rangers.
16:41 , Alex Young
Southampton boss Martin has revealed that Jan Bednarek and Paul Onuachu are both available ahead of Sunday’s clash with Tottenham. Adam Lallana will also be back in contention but the game comes too soon for ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to make his return, though Alex McCarthy is fit.
Gavin Bazunu, Ross Stewart, Will Smallbone and Juan Larios are all still out, while defender Jack Stephens is serving a four-game ban for his second red card of the season received for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair in the thumping home defeat by Chelsea.
16:34 , Alex Young
TV channel: The game will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 (in standard definition and high definition). Coverage starts at 6pm GMT ahead of a 7pm kick-off.
Live stream: TNT Sports subscribers can also catch the contest live online via the Discovery+ app and website.
16:30 , Alex Young
Good evening and welcome to the Standard’s LIVE coverage of the Premier League clash between Southampton and Tottenham.
Spurs are looking for just their second win in nine across all competitions, while Saints are looking for their second win in 16 in the league.
Two teams in desperate need of three points, it’s a wonder for which the points are more important.
Kick-off on the south coast is at 7pm GMT. Stick with us.
