Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur 09/03/19

09 March 2019

Southampton’s Premier League survival battle continues as they welcome Tottenham Hotspur to the St. Mary’s Stadium.

The hosts come into this meeting off the back of an unfortunate 3-2 road loss to Manchester United, which was their third in their previous four Premier League outings (W1, L3). Currently sitting two points clear of the relegation territory, the Saints can’t afford a failure against the team whom they’ve failed to beat in all six of their previous H2H encounters at this venue (D2, L4). The one thing that can encourage Ralph Hasenhüttl amid Southampton’s severe crisis is that they’ve secured two wins in their last four PL home outings (W2, D1, L1) although both have come against the teams from the bottom half of the table. The Saints’ main problem this season concerns their inability to cope with the likes of the top-five teams that has seen them lose six of eight clashes with the PL elite clubs (W1, D1, L6). What’s more, in each of those games Hasenhüttl’s men have conceded over 1.5 goals per match.

Meanwhile, although they’ve dumped Borussia Dortmund out of the Champions League (4-0 on aggregate), the visitors are going through a difficult period in the domestic championship. Winless in their last three PL fixtures (D1, L2), the Spurs have brought their Champions League promotion into question as they now sit just four points above fifth-placed Arsenal. Maurizio Pochettino’s men now hope to bring a two-game PL road losing streak to an end as they face a team whom they’ve outplayed twice on their last three visits to this stadium (W2, D1). However, their recent road form suggests it won’t be a routine task, considering the Lilywhites have lost four successive away meetings across all competitions before beating BVB 1-0 at midweek. An interesting fact is that Tottenham’s 30-game PL run without a draw was broken last weekend as they were held to a 1-1 draw to the Gunners at the Wembley Stadium.