For the first time in 51 days, Tottenham made a Premier League away trip, and they struggled in the early stages as Southampton moved the ball with confidence. Despite starting on the back foot, it was the visitors who found the net in the 14th minute, but Ben Davies’ header was ruled out for offside. The ‘Saints’ continued to impress and were rewarded for all of their positive play in the 25th minute, when James Ward-Prowse’s sumptuous strike from inside the box spun away from Hugo Lloris, nestling in the far corner.
However, all of Southampton’s fine work was undone by a moment of madness from Mohammed Salisu. The defender’s rash challenge on Son Heung-min resulted in the referee pointing to the penalty spot, and to add insult to injury, Salisu was given his marching orders after receiving his second yellow card of the match. Harry Kane made no mistake with his spot-kick, firing the ball into the top corner to restore parity.
For the second game in a row, ‘Spurs’ played the second half with a one-man advantage, and they wasted no time in finding the net once again. However, a VAR review cut the celebrations short, ruling that Kane had taken up an offside position. As the encounter progressed, the visitors began to up the pressure, and for the third time in the match, saw a goal ruled out, with Matt Doherty deemed to have fouled Fraser Forster.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, the ‘Saints’ showed great resolve to keep their opponents at bay to extend their current unbeaten run at home to six games.
