Southampton vs Tottenham: Key Saints in victory over Spurs
Southampton ring in the New Year with a victory over Tottenham Hotspur and drag themselves up to 12th on the Premier League table.
Over a three match stretch that saw the Saints play Chelsea, Crystal Palace, and Spurs in a span of a week and Ralph’s men managed to come away with 7 points from the 3 matches.
The latest victory was a 1-0 win over the Spurs in Saint Mary’s. It was not the prettiest match, as Saints out-fouled Spurs 21-8 but, they got the job done and came away with all 3 points.
Multiple Saints made a case to be named Man-of-the-Match so let us take a look at three who had the biggest impact on the match.
James Ward-Prowse
It seems every time we start to doubt Ward-Prowse he proves us wrong. The midfielder was in fine form again on Saturday bossing the midfield and making it hard for the Spurs to get any sort of attack going.
According to @StatsZone on Twitter, JWP won 9 tackles out of 10 attempted, 14 ball recoveries, and 9 crosses in the match which were all match highs. A presence like this in the midfield goes a long way in getting results and staying in the Premier League.
The Englishman has benefited from a change of role in the squad that came with a change of tactics. In the 3-5-2, Ward-Prowse seemed lost at times. Now in the 4-2-2-2 he has found life again and is a brand new player who enjoys making opponents pay in the midfield.
He has been a joy to watch in recent matches and if this form continues the Saints can continue picking up points at the rate they currently are.
Jack Stephens
Another man who has found a rich vein of form recently that many probably did not see coming. He has been spectacular as of late and his partnership with Jan Bednarek has made our backline a completely different beast.
On Wednesday, he was fantastic defensively shutting down one of the best strikers in the world and even collected an assist on the match-winning goal. He completed 7 of his 14 long balls, had 8 clearances, and 8 recoveries.
Stephens, has been an absolute beast and if he continues like this the defensive woes in the back may be a thing of the past.
Danny Ings
What else is there to say about the striker that has not already been said? The man is unstoppable at the moment and put Toby Alderweireld through the spin cycle for his goal that eventually won the match.
He now has 13 league goals and is joint second in the golden boot race only behind Jamie Vardy and level with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Next. Hasenhuttl explains what’s changed for Saints recently. dark
With 17 matches left in the league and if Ings can keep scoring we are looking at a 20 goal scorer on our hands and I cannot think of someone who is more deserving than Danny Ings.