Premier League: Struggling Saints Have No Reason To Fear Spurs

Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur

The Premier League’s bottom club hosts the team in fourth place on Saturday and their fans will have high hopes of getting some sort of positive result.

Yes folks, the Premier League game between Southampton vs Spurs is not an away banker despite the relative positions of the two clubs.

That is because the Saints under Ruben Selles are showing some fight, while Tottenham are spending too much time (in my opinion) naval-gazing and they are pretty poor on the road.      

The Saints come into the game on the back of an impressive 0-0 draw away to Manchester United, while Tottenham got a much needed 3-1 win at home to Nottingham Forest.

But Spurs manager Antonio Conte, recently back from gall bladder surgery, has had plenty of criticism for his players and even the fans in his final year of his contract at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The pre-match Premier League 2023 betting odds back an away win for sure. But with a passionate St. Mary’s crowd behind them, the hosts can give their visitors a tough afternoon. 

Talking Points

Where would Saints be without Ward-Prowse?

Southampton are still bottom of the table, though they can climb out of the relegation zone if they can beat Brentford on Wednesday.

Under Selles, they have picked up seven points from the last four league games. And if they continue that kind of form, they will be fine. But they do have a tough run-in starting with the Bees and then Spurs. 

Attacking midfielder and captain James Ward-Prowse remains Southampton’s most creative player and he is particularly dangerous when he gets a dead ball opportunity, as he proved quite brilliantly when he scored the winner in a recent match against Chelsea from a free-kick on the stroke of half time.

With six goals and two assists this term, Ward-Prowse is the Saints’ most influential player. And if he stays fit, then his team always has a chance.

Another potential match winner is newly signed Argentine striker Carlos Alcaraz, who arrived in a £12-M switch from Racing. He’s already showed he can get stuck in and get under the skin of opposition players and fans, and that is an attribute which will help the Saints in a relegation scrap.

He’ll feature heavily in the Premier League 2023 highlights that’s for sure, and the 20-year-old has already scored two goals, including the winner against Leicester City two weeks ago.   

Ruben Selles is Southampton’s third head coach of the season, replacing Nathan Jones who lasted just 14 games. He has said he’d like to stay at the helm for 15 years and a win against Spurs would put him in the right direction.     

Conte and Kane are hogging the Spurs news

Tottenham are in the Champions League places, but it’s not all smiles in that part of North London as their fiery manager has been shooting from the hip.

Conte was under pressure in the lead up to Spurs’ home game against Nottingham Forest, and he let rip at the fans and his players, saying the supporters were too impatient and some of his stars were too soft.    

And then there’s talisman Harry Kane who has already scored 20 goals, but his future at the club is again under the spotlight. 

Before the inevitable media speculation around the future of Kane gathers pace, the Tottenham owners have made a pre-emptive strike, saying on Tuesday that regardless of whether he signs a new deal in the summer, they will be unwilling to sell as he enters the final year of his current deal.

That means he could get to next January without the situation being resolved, but it seems that is a risk the club’s board is willing to take. 

Pundits and fans of Spurs are talking about Conte and Kane rather than looking at the opportunities that the club has if its stars, young and older, can play to their full potential and consistently.

They are missing injured midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur for sure, but Spurs need to get a grip or they could drift out of the top four race.    

History

These two teams have met 48 times over the past three decades, and Spurs have come out on top with 25 victories to 15 and there have been eight draws. Conte’s team won 4-1 when they hosted the Saints back in August.

Despite sitting at opposite ends of the table, there isn’t a lot to choose between Spurs’ recent form with three wins, one draw, and two defeats from the last six, and Southampton have two wins, one draw, and three losses.  

But Spurs have lost their last three games on the road.  

Betting Tip

The Saints have a midweek game against Brentford, while Tottenham have a week off so the visitors have that advantage, and Spurs are odds on at a SBOTOP price of 1.80 with Southampton at 3.73 and the draw is at 3.30.

But I’m not convinced Conte’s men will take their chance and end a poor run on the road. Five of Spurs’ last six games have yielded fewer than 2.50 goals, the exception being the recent win over Nottingham Forest, while Saints have had two or fewer goals in four of their last six, with three goals in the other two.

So I’m backing a low-scoring, tense affair on the South coast.

 

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