Southampton 2-1 Tottenham: Saints stun Spurs with superb turnaround
By Marc Walker
Southampton claimed a vital 2-1 over Spurs in the Premier League this afternoon after an amazing turnaround at St Mary’s.
The visitors had held the lead at half-time through Harry Kane’s opener and fully deserved their advantage following dominant first 45 minutes.
However, the Saints came roaring back with two goals from Yan Valery and James Ward-Prowse in a much improved second-half display.
The opening 15 minutes of the game saw Saints having to soak up a lot of Spurs pressure and Harry Kane was caught just offside before having his shot blocked by Angus Gunn.
Their defence was looking less than convincing and some slack play nearly led to an opening goal for the visitors.
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Possession was surrendered to Kane and he fired a cross into the area that was diverted onto his own post by Maya Yoshida, but the Japanese international eventually cleared.
Christian Eriksen then hit the bar with a free kick but it wasn’t long before Saints fell behind.
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Their back three was left exposed as Spurs countered. Dele Alli received the ball just outside the area and lofted a perfect pass towards Kane at the back post, where the England captain rolled in for a deserved lead.
Saints could only muster two half chances for Redmond and Austin in the first period and it was clear that Ralph Hasenhuttl needed to make some tactical adjustments at half-time to help his players get into the game.
Both Shane Long and Josh Sims were thrown into the action to provide some pace and movement upfront, and this seemed to have an immediate impact when both were involved in a move that almost saw Nathan Redmond grab and equaliser
Long’s pass found Redmond inside the area and he jinked past Davinson Sanchez before firing into the side-netting from a great position.
The same combination then produced another chance that Redmond will have felt he should have done better with.
Long squared the ball across the six-yard line to the winger who had darted across the near post, but he flicked his effort wide instead of inside the near post.
Harry Kane missed a good opportunity when he curled a left-footed shot wide but Saints got their deserved equaliser in the 76th minute.
Substitute Stuart Armstrong played the ball across the area and Yan Valery was at the far post to take advantage and bundle home his second goal in two games.
However, there was even more to come.
With an international break upcoming, James Ward-Prowse is in the form of his life and he took his claims for a place in Gareth Southgate’s a step further with another superb free-kick goal.
The ball was put down centrally just outside the area and he executed a strike perfectly into the top corner to match his effort against Manchester United last weekend.
After the true game of two halves, Saints held on for a crucial win that saw them stay out of the relegation zone going into the international break.