Southampton Match Thread

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Saturday 04th May 2013
K.O @ 1500hrs BST

lloris
walker dawson caulker verts
lennon hudd parker/dembelle bale

ade defoe

thats what i want to see.

parker or holtby if dembele not fit.

i dont remember us letting in loads of goals when caulker was playing

Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele hopes to be fit despite being forced off against Wigan last weekend with a muscle problem.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas has Emmanuel Adebayor and Jake Livermore available after injury.

Southampton are without Gaston Ramirez and Danny Fox, who both start three-match suspensions after being sent off against West Brom.

Luke Shaw should return to the side after an ankle injury.
MATCH PREVIEW

I've got a suspicion that Southampton, on 39 points, aren't safe just yet. Everything hinges on Wigan.

If the Latics beat West Brom on Saturday and then Swansea on Tuesday they will be on 38 points - just one shy of Mauricio Pochettino's team if they fail to get anything from a very tricky trip to White Hart Lane. So their safety isn't as cut and dried as many people think.

The Saints may have gone 281 minutes without conceding an away goal, but White Hart Lane is not a ground they have enjoyed a lot of success at in the past, having taken some heavy beatings there over the years.

And they are running into a Spurs side desperate for three points in their nervy scramble for a Champions League place.

Andre Villas-Boas's team have a pivotal match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday that you feel they simply have to win if they are going to secure a top-four spot ahead of the Blues or their other London rivals, Arsenal.

They have been accused of choking yet again, but it is worth noting that they have come from behind to salvage points in their last three matches against Wigan, Everton and Manchester City and they have lost just three of their last 22 games.

They may have slipped to fifth after being in the top four for virtually all of 2013, but they won't give up without a fight.

Their star man, Gareth Bale, was this week anointed both the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year and the Football Writers' Player of the Year, and he could record another milestone in an incredible season against the club where he started his career. If he scores against Southampton, he will become the first Tottenham player since Jurgen Klinnsmann in 1994-95 to register 20 league goals in a season.

In a weird quirk, both sides have identical opponents for their last two games of the season. Tottenham play Stoke away and then Sunderland at home, while it's the same for the Saints, just in reverse.
MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

Tottenham average 2.53 goals per game in 13 Premier League home games in this fixture. They won 7-2 in 2000 and 5-1 on Southampton's last visit in 2004, in which Jermain Defoe scored a hat-trick.
The Saints have managed just two wins at White Hart Lane in those 13 matches.
Tottenham beat Southampton 2-1 in October thanks to goals from former Saints player Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey.
Today's fixture will be the 100th match between the teams in the league. Tottenham have won 42 times, Southampton 32 with 25 draws.

Tottenham

Spurs have 62 points from 34 matches this season, three more than they had under Harry Redknapp last season. They have only had more points at this stage in 2009-10, when they finished fourth with a club-record total of 70 points.
They have now scored and conceded in 25 of their 34 league games this season, more than any other side.
Tottenham have let 23 points slip from winning positions this season - only Southampton (29) have relinquished more.
However, their gain of 19 points from a losing position is bettered only by Manchester United (28) and Everton (22).
Spurs have played in seven league matches with a Saturday 3pm kick-off this season, fewer than any other team. They are yet to win any of the four that they have played at White Hart Lane (D3, L1).
Alongside Swansea, Tottenham are the only other team yet to be awarded a penalty in the league this season.
They are unbeaten in the last 11 league matches when Bale has scored (9 wins, 2 draws). The last time Spurs lost when he scored was in a 5-2 defeat at Arsenal on 17 November.
Player of the Year Bale is set to make his 200th appearance for Tottenham. He has now scored 13 Premier League away goals this season, more than any other player.
Bale made his debut for Southampton aged just 16 years and 275 days on 17 April 2006 against Millwall. He left in May 2007 after 45 appearances and five goals.

Southampton

Southampton's defeat to West Brom last Saturday was their first in seven matches.
They have failed to score in back-to-back league games for the first time this season.
Saints have lost just four of their last 18 league matches (W5, D9, L4).
They have 1.31 points per game under Mauricio Pochettino in the league. They had exactly 1.00 per game under Nigel Adkins this season.

yes get the f*ck in parker dropped wahhhhhho

Here's our starting line-up: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Dembele, Huddlestone, Dempsey; Bale, Defoe.

And here are our subs today: Friedel, Caulker, Naughton, Carroll, Holtby, Sigurdsson, Adebayor.

now the hog carrier been dropped lets see some goals

Tottenham Hotspur ?@SpursOfficial
NEWS FLASH - today's kick-off has been delayed until 3.30pm due to traffic problems affecting fans on their way to WHL.

sopcast is not going past 20. keeeps buffin

http://www.nutjob.eu/

there u go

I'm on this one Lought. Not a bad stream . . . .


http://www.stadium-live.com/Channel3.html

well done avb playing un fit dembele

bring on ade but who do we take off.
the ball not staying up the other half.
defoe cant hold the ball up.

lennon needs to get in the game
ekotto needs to wake up

they seem like they dont care.

ekotto playing around

There's no fire or urgency in their play it's as if they have already given up on top 4.

The manager can't seem to do anything with them eaither.

Mikey M

defoe slows down our attack again. only h ad to pass it to bale or dempsey

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
Fek me that was squeaky. Time for Wedknapp & Wangers to do us a favour . . . . .

Gareth Bale produced a stunning late winner to keep Tottenham on course for next season's Champions League and leave his former club Southampton still uncertain of Premier League survival.

With four minutes left the PFA Player of the Year cut in from the right and fired a fierce left-foot shot beyond Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

The result was cruel on Southampton, who created many of the best chances.

Rickie Lambert came closest, striking the post with a first-half free-kick.

But ultimately this was a game decided by one swing of Bale's left boot, a special strike that resulted in his fourth goal in his last five league appearances.

Victory takes Spurs fourth - temporarily at least with Arsenal playing in the evening game - ahead of a defining week in which they play Chelsea and Stoke City. For Southampton, the defeat leaves them looking nervously behind them with a trip to Sunderland and the visit of Stoke to come.

At the end of a week in which he was named PFA Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Football Writers' Player of the Year, this was billed beforehand as the Welshman's day.

But he had his eyes on another landmark against the club where he began his career - becoming the first Spurs player to score 20 league goals in a season since Jurgen Klinnsmann in 1994-95.

But Bale was made to wait, not only by the 30-minute delay to kick-off because of a chemical spill on the M25, but by a diligent and dogged Southampton performance, as they showed further evidence of their continued development under manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Tactically smart, the visitors' work-rate was also admirable and for much of the first half Bale found he had company wherever he appeared on the field.

The visitors should have been ahead after 11 minutes, when Lambert picked out an attacking surge by Nathaniel Clyne. A lofted pass put the young full-back through on goal, only for his shot to flash inches wide of Hugo Lloris's right-hand post. It was a warning for Spurs, but Southampton were to come closer still as the half wore on.

In his final contribution of the match before a recurrence of a hamstring injury, Mousa Dembele fouled Jay Rodriguez on the edge of the penalty area. Lambert struck the resulting free-kick hard and low, thumping the post after a vital fingertip save by Lloris. Guly Do Prado gathered the loose ball and immediately hooked it back into the penalty area where Steven Davis headed straight at the Tottenham goalkeeper with the goal at his mercy.

The pattern continued after the interval as Adam Lallana skipped away from Michael Dawson, only to scuff his shot when through on goal. But it was to prove costly.

Spurs responded by introducing Emmanuel Adebayor and his neat flick put Clint Dempsey through on goal but he could only shoot over. Boruc flapped at a Tom Huddlestone corner late on but the visitors clung on.

Having been subdued and stifled for much of the afternoon, Bale claimed a late penalty as he went down under Jack Cork's clumsy challenge but referee Mark Clattenburg was on hand to wave away the Spurs appeals. But the Welshman would not be denied.

As the clock ticked towards the 90th minute, Bale drifted wide to the right flank and gathered a pass from Kyle Walker. He surged away from the attentions of Luke Shaw, took one look at goal and unleashed a tremendous low drive that flashed beyond Boruc and into the far corner.

Match Stats
90mins
Tottenham Hotspur/Southampton

Possession
42% 58%

Shots
7 10

On target
4 6

Corners
5 5

Fouls
8 9

bale again saves us.

what an awfull performace.
why does walker keep cuttng inside
why when theres 20 mins left and we have a free kick just inside the oppoents half does he ping a ball to ekotto.
you have the ball you have space why pass to ekotto and wait for him to bring ball under controll and by then theres a man on.

big shout out for ade who worked hard when he came on.

maybe its time for 442 at home

MANAGER REACTION - Tottenham 1-0 Southampton

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas: "It was very important. It was difficult to break them down. In the first half, Saints had the better chances, we managed to hold on to 0-0 and then second half we improved and were much better and created a couple of chances, because Southampton did ever so well. They kept the ball well.

"But we waited, had patience and then managed to score."