Christian Eriksen's goal late in the first half fueled Tottenham to a 1-0 win over Southampton at White Hart Lane on Sunday. It's a big win for Mauricio Pochettino's side who had failed to pick up three points in a match since starting the season with two straight wins.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Southampton: Final score 1-0, 3 things we learned
Christian Eriksen helped lead Spurs to a much-needed victory over Southampton.
Spurs started off well, putting Southampton under early pressure, nearly taking a lead just three minutes in when Jan Vertonghen had a shot cleared off the line. The Spurs onslaught continued as the first half rolled on as Erik Lamela came close in the 26th minute, having his shot from 20-yards out tipped away by Fraser Forster.
Finally in the 40th minute, Spurs broke through thanks to Christian Eriksen. The play started when Emmanuel Adebayor connected with Nacer Chadli who layered off a wonderful ball to Eriksen. The midfielder blew past former Ajax teammate Toby Alderweireld with a quick first touch, sending his shot through traffic and by Forster inside the near post.
It was not all good news for Spurs in the first half though as defender Kyle Naughton was forced off after turning his ankle in a hard tackle with Soton's Ryan Bertrand.
The Spurs defense started to unravel a bit in the second half as Southampton began to take over possession and put Hugo Lloris under pressure. The French keeper held firm though, denying Victor Wanyama in the 64th minute after a rather shocking mistake by Younes Kaboul, whose wild clearance attempt ended up right on the foot on the Soton midfielder.
Soton missed a brilliant chance to equalize in the 84th minute when Sadio Mané got free in behind the Spurs’ defense and had virtually nothing between himself and an empty net. Instead of directing Shane Long’s perfectly placed cross past Lloris from just yards away, Mané couldn’t make clean contact, sending the ball spinning well wide of the goal. The 22-year-old Senegalese striker will have nightmares about that miss for days.
Spurs: Lloris, Rose, Vertonghen, Kaboul, Naughton (Dier 32’), Mason, Capoue, Chadli, Eriksen (Dembélé 81’), Lamela (Kane 90’ +1), Adebayor
Goals: Eriksen (40’)
Saints: Forster, Cylne, Fonte, Alderweireld, Bertrand, Schneiderlin, Wanyama (Long 76’), Davis, Mané, Pellè, Tadić
Goals: None
3 Things
1. Spurs have no right back - With Kyle Naughton now injured -- and while we don’t know the details, it looked serious -- Tottenham now have no right back available. That’s not good.The team has straight up refused to set any kind of timetable for Kyle Walker’s return, while both DeAndre Yedlin and Ryan Fredericks are out on loan. Eric Dier, who replaced Naughton, is probably going to be be the guy for the moment, but he’s a converted center-back and didn’t look all that great.
2. Spurs might be figuring out how Pochettino wants them to play - There’s no doubt it’s been a bit of a struggle for Spurs players this season as they’ve tried to learn and get comfortable with their new head coach’s high-pressure style. It seemed at times early in the season that there were disconnects in the message, but their performance on Sunday points to brighter days ahead. It doesn’t mean it was a perfect performance, but it was better, especially against a good Soton side.
4. Soton coming back to Earth, or a blip on the radar? - Let’s preface this with the following disclaimer: It’s just one match. But perhaps the stellar start to the season for Ronald Koeman’s bunch is starting to slow down just a bit. While getting results away in the Premier League is tough no matter who you’re facing, the expectations going into Sunday were that the Saints would roll over a generally poor Spurs side. Instead, Soton’s midfield was overpowered and their attack was fairly quiet. Maybe it’s just a bad day -- see Mane’s amazing miss in the final minutes -- but we’ll have to wait and see.
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