Southampton 1-0 Tottenham: Premier League – Saints Player Ratings
By Harry Tizard
Midfielders
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Central-Midfield – 7
Captaining the side once again, Hojbjerg had a steady game in the Southampton midfield. The Danish international look to carry the ball forward and looked to play the balls into the channels for those making attacking runs down the wings.
The 24-year-old also broke up the play well in the center of the park, intercepting the ball three times, as well as clearing it on a further four occasions.
James Ward-Prowse, Central-Midfield – 8
A hard-tackling midfielder is not a phrase regularly connected to Ward-Prowse before Hasenhuttl took the reigns at Southampton, but is one attached to the twenty-five-year-old now.
Against Tottenham, Ward-Prowse completed a game-high nine tackles (more than double any other player on the entire pitch), as well as recovering the ball on 14 occasions. Combined with this, the midfielder was a composed figure on the ball, with the Englishman dispossessed just once in the 90 minutes.
From a Southampton perspective, the only disappointment from today’s game is that Ward-Prowse wasn’t as effective as usually expected from his set-piece deliveries, with a high percentage of balls into the box either easily cleared away or falling straight into the palms of Gazzaniga.
Moussa Djenepo, Attacking-Midfield – 5
After making such an impact off the bench against Crystal Palace, Southampton fans will be disappointed with the impact the Malian had as a starter against Tottenham.
The winger only had one successful dribble before being substituted in the 58th minute, being dispossessed on three occasions, and finding himself in the book after a couple of poorly timed challenges.
Stuart Armstrong, Attacking-Midfield – 7
In the 89 minutes in which Armstrong was on the pitch, the Scotsman constantly gave Southampton an option down the right-hand. Despite struggling to get into the game, with just 44 touches of the ball, the former Celtic man was still a key part of the Saints attack, interchanging well with Nathan Redmond.