Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur; Premier League
Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance30,976.
Southampton vs Tottenham preview
Watch match highlights just after full-time on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app
Wednesday 1 January 2020 15:49, UK
Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Southampton vs Tottenham in the Premier League on New Year's Day (kick-off 3pm).
Team news
Southampton will check on striker Michael Obafemi ahead of the Premier League clash with Tottenham.
The 19-year-old, who scored in the Boxing Day win at Chelsea, missed Saturday's 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace due to illness.
Defender Yan Valery (infection) and striker Shane Long (knee) are doubts after also being sidelined against the Eagles.
Tottenham welcome back midfielders Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko from their one-game bans.
Heung-Min Son serves the final game of his three-match ban and will play no part. Ben Davies (ankle), Danny Rose (muscle) and Hugo Lloris (elbow) remain out.
Opta stats
- Southampton won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, ending a run of six consecutive home league games without a win against Spurs (D2 L4).
- Tottenham have won 11 of their 15 Premier League against Southampton since Saints returned to the top flight in 2012 - against no side have Spurs won more league games in that time.
- Southampton and Tottenham have faced on New Year's Day once before in the Premier League, Saints winning 1-0 in 2003 thanks to a James Beattie strike.
- Tottenham haven't lost their first league game of a calendar year since 2009 (0-1 at Wigan), winning eight and drawing two since then. The Lilywhites have also won their last six Premier League matches played on New Year's Day.
- Southampton have won seven points from their last four home league games (W2 D1 L1), more than they had in their previous 10 games at St Mary's (6 - W1 D3 L6).
- No side has kept fewer clean sheets in the Premier League than Tottenham this season (2), with only bottom side Norwich keeping as few. Indeed, since Jose Mourinho took charge, no Premier League side has conceded more goals in all competitions than Spurs (17).
- Tottenham striker Harry Kane has scored in six consecutive Premier League appearances against Southampton - only Robin van Persie vs Stoke (8), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink vs West Ham (7) and Romelu Lukaku vs West Ham (7) have had longer scoring streaks against an opponent in the competition.
- Tottenham's Harry Kane has scored five goals in his last three Premier League appearances on New Year's Day - in Premier League history, no player has scored more goals on that day than Kane (Andy Cole and Steven Gerrard also five).
- Since the start of the 2018-19 campaign, Danny Ings has had a hand in more Premier League goals than any other Southampton player (23 - 19 goals, 4 assists). Ings has scored 12 goals this season, his best ever tally in a top-flight season.
- Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has never lost an away league match against Southampton in six previous meetings (W3 D3) - Mourinho has faced Saints more often than any other side without losing away from home in his managerial league career.
Charlie Nicholas' prediction
Southampton have always had issues at home, although they did get a draw at the weekend against Crystal Palace. Tottenham are still unstable.
Jose Mourinho will look at the defence, whether it is Danny Rose in particular or the club that is the issue, as Jan Vertonghen is at left-back and is struggling.
Toby Alderweireld signs a contract and is struggling, while Serge Aurier makes too many mistakes. This must give hope for Danny Ings and Nathan Redmond - whether they can get enough service to them through midfield I am unsure.
Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Lucas Moura have a lot on the counter-attack, but Southampton's confidence must be high and they may play more in line, which means there will be more goals in this one. Mourinho still needs time to fix this one.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 2-2 (11/1 with Sky Bet)
Nerves of steel from Tottenham?
A staggering 44.1 per cent of Super 6 players have predicted a 2-1 Tottenham win at St Mary's, but what will you predict with £250k up for grabs? Play for free here.
