Tottenham will hope to return to their Manchester City-thrashing pomp when they visit struggling Southampton in Premier League action on Sunday.
Spurs were held midweek at Rangers in the Europa League in a match they really could have lost at the death, and domestically are fresh off a sore defeat to resurgent Chelsea in a London derby they feel they should have won, given their two-goal lead.
Manager Ange Postecoglou still has a chance to convince his fanbase and his employers that the resounding win over Pep Guardiola’s side on their own patch was closer to his team’s default than a number of seemingly avoidable slip-ups that have called his confident claim of being able to win silverware in his second season in charge into question.
The Saints, meanwhile, have yet to convert their respectable on-pitch efforts into the points that will stop them falling straight back down into the Championship. They’ve won just one game in 15 and are already seven points adrift of safety.
Here’s all the latest team news heading into a game neither side can really afford to lose.
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Southampton vs. Tottenham lineups, predicted starting 11, team news
The home side continue to have to fight relegation without a number of key players.
Ross Stewart and Juan Larios will be out until the new year, when Russell Martin also hopes to have Gavin Bazunu back from a tendon injury that has sidelined the keeper for eight months.
William Smallbone won’t be back in time for the visit of Spurs, nor will Adam Lallana. However, Paul Onuachu is in line to return from the medical room, as is Jan Bednarek. Aaron Ramsdale, meanwhile, is 50/50 for the weekend.
Jack Stephens will miss the game on Sunday due to a red card.
Southampton predicted XI (5-3-2, right to left): Lumley (GK) — Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Walker-Peters, Manning — Dibling, Downes, Fernandes — Armstrong, Archer
Injured: Stewart (heel), Larios (undisc.), Bazunu (Achilles), Smallbone, Lallana (both thigh), Ramsdale (hand, doubt)
Suspended: Stephens (red card)
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Postecoglou offered a somewhat positive update at the Friday press conference, announcing that defender Ben Davies’ injury is “not as bad as first thought”.
However, it won’t be fully healed in time for Davies to feature on Sunday, as he forms a trio of unavailable defenders with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
Guglielmo Vicario, Mikey Moore, Richarlison and Wilson Odobert also remain out, while Yves Bissouma will be suspended for the South Coast trip for yellow-card accumulation and Rodrigo Bentancur‘s lengthy suspension for offensive comments continues.
Tottenham predicted XI (4-2-3-1, right to left): Forster (GK) — Porro, Gray, Dragusin, Udogie — Bergvall, Sarr — Johnson, Maddison, Son — Solanke
Injured: Davies, Van de Ven, Romero (both thigh), Vicario (foot), Moore (illness), Richarlison, Odobert (both thigh)
Suspended: Bissouma (yellow-card accumulation), Bentancur (disciplinary)
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Southampton vs. Tottenham live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch this Premier League match across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
