Read David Hytner’s match report:
That’s all from me, thanks for reading and for your emails. What to do now? Why not follow the penultimate throes of the La Liga title race with Daniel Harris:
“Spurs have had a left back to finish off any team now playing up front for Madrid,” emails Jeremy Dresner. “Playing everything through Rose in an attacking sense makes precious little sense.”
And Jonathan Fink emails, re Ray Reardon @ 90 mins: “Well, we do have Steve Davis.”
And three handy points for Southampton boosts their chances of playing European football next season, though that is dependent on where they finish, who wins the FA Cup, whether Southampton actually want to play on Thursday nights, and so on.
The Premier League table is right here for you to peruse.
That defeat for Spurs opens the chance for Arsenal to steal second place from their north London rivals on the final day, should the Gunners get something from their visit to Manchester City this afternoon, which you can follow here right now with Jacob Steinberg:
Full-time: Tottenham 1-2 Southampton
A miserable week for Spurs wraps up with defeat to Southampton, courtesy of two well-taken Steven Davis goals.
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90+4 mins: Stunning save! The free-kick falls for Chadli who must poke home from close range, but somehow Forster makes himself (is) big and blocks the effort from six yards.
90+3 mins: Fonte shoves through the back of Kane and Spurs will have a free-kick, wide on the left, around 40 yards from goal. Eriksen lurks over the ball.
90+2 mins: Spurs can’t seem to decide whether they should be pumping it into the mixer or staying faithful to their more patient approach. While they ponder, Southampton break, and Ward-Prowse flashes a shot just wide.
Updated
90 mins: Spurs are hammering away at the Southampton door but credit must go to the visitors who have been very well organised in this second half. Double-goalscorer Steven Davis is named man of the match. Five minutes to be added on, for goals and fouls and substitutions and drinks breaks.
Raymond Reardon (may or may not the Ray Reardon) emails: “Tottenham’s theme banner ‘To Dare, is to do’ might need to be changed to ‘Too Daring, may bring you Undo’.”
88 mins: Shane Long now gets himself into a shoving match with Danny Rose. I’m pretty sure he is going to spontaneously combust before this game is out.
More live action coming your way:
86 mins: Chadli goes up for a header at the back post but misjudges it and heads only into a Saints defender. At last Spurs do get a corner, to ironic cheers, but nothing comes of it.
85 mins: Long flashes a volley from 18 yards but it’s off target. Tadic is replaced by James Ward-Prowse.
84 mins: Kane shapes to shoot from the edge of the box but goes down under a meaty challenge. Some appeals, but no penalty. Then Long, who is by now bursting with rage every time the camera pans to him, is booked for wiping out Lloris as they both chased after the ball outside the Spurs box.
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82 mins: N’Jie and Bertrand tussle for the ball in the box and once again Spurs are denied a corner that they probably should have had.
80 mins: Shane Long should have put the game to bed. He gets between Vertonghen and Alderweireld on the edge of the Spurs box and the defenders make a real mess of the situation, but Long wasn’t anticipating just how much of a mess and when the ball falls kindly for him, he takes a heavy touch which runs through to Lloris.
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79 mins: Nacer Chadli replaces Ryan Mason.
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78 mins: All one-way traffic now as Spurs pin Southampton back and search for an equaliser. Virgil shins the ball off for a corner which Tottenham work short, and somehow they are denied a second corner when the ball was clearly toed clear by Davis.
76 mins: Lamela breaks through the middle with a determined dribble and is hauled to the ground. It’s a free-kick in an area which is probably too far out to score but too tempting not to shoot. Lamela steps up to take it himself and his effort is too high.
75 mins: That might be hugely significant goal. As it stands Southampton would leap above West Ham and climb to sixth in the league, while Spurs would let Arsenal back into the conversation for second place.
From the throw Southampton worked the ball to Davis on the left side of the box. He waited for Bertrand to overlap, using the full-back as a decoy to shake up the Spurs defence a little, before playing a quick one-two with Tadic and firing into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the area.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-2 Southampton (Davis, 72)
A poor clearance by Lloris, who slices the ball into the crowd, lets Southampton attack and they punish Spurs almost immediately.
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Drinks break
70 mins: It’s quite hot in London, around 28C at White Hart Lane, so the players are taking on some fluids.
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69 mins: Spurs continue to dominate the ball, Southampton feeding off isolated breaks. Walker’s effort from the right edge of the box is blocked and a moment later Eriksen’s shot from almost the same spot hits Ryan Mason. Replays show it was probably bending just wide.
News from elsewhere in the football world: Blackpool have been relegated from League One, and Celtic have wrapped up the Scottish Premiership title.
65 mins: Right on cue, Clinton N’Jie comes on for Son in the Spurs midfield. Pellè replaces Mané for Southampton.
64 mins: Vertonghen pulls away from Wanyama to win a corner with his head but the effort is blocked.
“An uncharacteristically lumpen and ponderous Tottenham today,” emails Jeremy Dresner in Brighton. I bet it’s bloody lovely in Brighton today. “None of the signature midfield bursts through the saints backline have the conviction needed. Missing Alli and looking jaded from Monday. Time for Clinton to earn his spurs (transfer fee)today?”
62 mins: Eriksen pokes a pass into Kane behind the Southampton defence but he’s a couple of yards offside.
60 mins: A slightly manic period of handball appeals and dodgy touches ends with an excellent tackle by Steven Davis on Kyle Walker. The Southampton goalscorer has moved out to the left with Tadic now playing through the middle.
58 mins: Spurs continue to pile on pressure but Southampton haven’t allowed much sight of their goal in this half. Kane tries a powerful half-volley from range but it flies high and wide.
Updated
57 mins: Romeu replaces Clasie in midfield, who has had a very quiet game.
Re the goal, I think Jeff’s interpretation below is fair. The Sky Sports team didn’t discuss it much at half-time strangely:
@StFual @LawrenceOstlere Kane definitely distracted the keeper so he affected the play
— Jeff Gurr (@gurru991) May 8, 2016
55 mins: Walker bumps a volley down the right for Eriksen who delivers a flat cross for Harry Kane arriving at the far post, but it’s just too high for the striker who couldn’t get a meaningful contact on the ball under the attentions of Fonte.
54 mins: Walker has a dribble all the way across the centre of the pitch before running out of room and turning back. Spurs then take too long to get a shot away and Southampton pinch it, bursting forward first down the right before switching to Tadic on the left. He unfurls a tempting cross for Long to attack, but under pressure he heads wide from six yards.
Updated
51 mins: Rose is hacked to the floor by Mané. It’s not a great challenge and the Southampton man is in the book. Lamela stands over the free-kick which is not far from the left corner flag. He flights in a near-post cross but there are plenty of Southampton bodies in that area to clear the danger.
49 mins: Southampton break but Mané fails to cross to Shane Long in time and the ball is pinched, much to the striker’s annoyance. A moment later the frustrated Long chases a high pass against Vertonghen and appears to win it setting himself in on goal, but the whistle blows for a foul. Long is fuming.
47 mins: Southampton have come out scrapping. They press high and force Lloris to clear the ball into touch before slamming into a couple of midfield challenges.
Peeeeep!
Southampton start the second half with a long Fonte punt towards Tadic, who was only just beaten to the ball by a sweeping Lloris.
It must have been a big one in Leicester last night:
Need to drink water.. #Hanging 😂🏆💙
— Danny Drinkwater (@DannyDrinkwater) May 8, 2016
Half-time reading
I would highly recommend Daniel Taylor’s column this week. Not a lot to do with Tottenham v Southampton, but a very good read nonetheless:
Half-time correspondence
“Please remember that there is no such thing as an offside position,” emails William Martin. “The offside rule ONLY comes into play when the player touches the ball. The issue of interfering with play is very clear and almost never invoked. Bill.”
I take your first point, Bill, though your second isn’t actually true. Interfering with play and gaining an advantage is offside. Did Spurs gain an advantage from Kane’s position on the first goal? Only in that Southampton seemed to stop defending momentarily. I’m not sure that’s enough to rule out the goal.
Half-time: Tottenham 1-1 Southampton
Son dribbled around Forster to hand Spurs a deserved lead, but Davis hit back after a well-worked Southampton move which Lloris might have done better to prevent. All square at the break.
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45+4 mins: What an end to the half. Kane robbed Fonte on the byline, who had been trying to shield the ball off the pitch. Kane dribbled in and fired at goal from only a few yards out but hit his shot straight at Forster. From that tight angle a placed finish might have been the way to go.
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45+2 mins: Almost a wonderful goal to finish the half. After good buildup Steven Davis slides a ball into Tadic’s path but his cross is cut out by Mason, with Davis about to collect the return ball eight yards from goal.
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45 mins: Shane Long goes down a little theatrically on the byline under Mason’s challenge. No foul given but Long clearly felt he’d been unfairly felled there. Three minutes to be added on.
43 mins: Martina chops down Son, then picks the ball up with his hands after the whistle goes and launches it into the sky. A bit petty and he might have been booked, but Jon Moss is feeling generous. This half is petering out a little.
“So why do Spurs kick the ball out of play when Mane is injured yet Southampton refuse to when Walker is down, resulting in a goal?” questions a peeved Vinny K-Maddage. “Talk about etiquette and cheating.”
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41 mins: Bertrand is caught by Lamela on the ankle, who has put together a diverse collection of narky fouls in the first half.
39 mins: Alderweireld delivers another raking pass for Danny Rose to chase, and the full-back forces Martina to concede a corner. When Kyle Walker’s shot is blocked Spurs get another corner which Lamela swings in from the right, but that is headed clear at which point Rose smashes the ball into a neighbour’s garden.
36 mins: A bit of treatment and Mané is all right to continue. Spurs come forward down the left with Son, but he dallies and is caught on the ball by the returning Mané.
34 mins: Mané is down injured and the ball is kicked out of play by Lloris. He was clattered by a Lamela challenge.
Martina chipped a delicate ball down the right for Tadic breaking into the box. He took one wonderful touch with his left before cutting a cross into the box with his right for Davis arriving, who shot first time through Hugo Lloris from close range. The goalkeeper might have done better there.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Southampton (Davis, 31)
A well-worked move down the right and Southampton are level.
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30 mins: Lovely buildup down the right by Southampton, one-touch passing opening Spurs up, but Martina was half a yard offside at the final pass.
29 mins: Bertrand fires a dangerous low cross from the left and Danny Rose does well at the back post to carefully steer the ball away from danger for a Southampton corner, when he might easily have directed the ball into his own net.
@LawrenceOstlere that looked like a set piece starting from the pass from the Keeper. If so Kane was part of the play so surely offside?
— StFual (@StFual) May 8, 2016
26 mins: Eriksen flashes a low half-volley at goal from the edge of the box but he was under pressure and could only hit Forster’s chest. A moment later Kane tries his luck from range and he isn’t far away, the effort bouncing past the far post.
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25 mins: Utter chaos. Danny Rose decides he’s playing with his pals in the garden and tries to dribbles around Mané and Davis three or four times on the edge of his own box. He trips over the ball allowing Mané a sight of goal, but he then falls over too, and which point a collection of players all slide at the ball and it ricochets away to safety.
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22 mins: Lamela recovers Son’s misplaced pass in midfield and feeds Walker on a customary gallop down the right. Walker opts for an early cross towards Kane but the England forward can’t hit the target from 15 yards. Spurs are good against Southampton:
6 - Tottenham Hotspur have won 6 of their last 7 Premier League meetings with Southampton. Familiar.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 8, 2016
21 mins: Tadic lines up a 25-yard shot but slices it high and wide of the Spurs goal. He was given an awful lot of room there to have a free dig at goal and might have done better.
20 mins: It’s not quite happening yet for Southampton. Forster is put under pressure by an eager Kane who forces the goalkeeper to kick off the field.
18 mins: Shane Long is poked through on goal on the left of the box but the flag goes up.
I say odd because when Lamela slides the ball through to Son overlapping on his right, Harry Kane is having a stroll behind the Southampton defence clearly in an offside position. The Saints defence appear to hesitate but Kane doesn’t attempt to go for the ball and a determined Son bursts into the box. He gets to the byline and wiggles around Forster before slotting into a half-empty net with Saints bodies strewn around him trying to block.
Updated
GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Southampton (Son, 16)
It’s an odd goal, but finished well and Spurs lead.
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15 mins: The pattern of the game appears set with Spurs dictating possession and probing a well-organised Saints defence, and the visitors looking to break quickly at any opportunity.
13 mins: Mason is caught on the ball by Mané in midfield who feeds Davis. Red and white shirts stream forward sensing a chance to counterattack but Davis chips a pretty aimless ball straight through to Lloris. Leicester would have scored that.
12 mins: Mason chips wide for Walker who crosses almost from the corner flag towards Kane. It’s a little too high but Son recovers possession on the left and fizzes a tempting low one – which no Spurs player anticipates.
10 mins: Southampton have settled a little and almost open the scoring. Mané slides a cute pass to Tadic who could either fire into the far corner or square for Davis, but chooses neither and the ball flashes wide.
James Walton has Lamela’s back: “Why is Lamela not suspended? Maybe because when you watch the video you will see that Fabregas actually reaches out in front of Lamela who is not even looking in his direction at the time....”
8 mins: Son has started on the left allowing Eriksen to play in the No10 slot, where he is already pulling the strings. The Dane dances through a couple of tackles in the box but eventually runs out of room.
6 mins: Alderweireld has found his measured diagonal hoofing range, serving a beautifully flighted pass on to the chest of Rose on the left. Rose drives to the byline and cuts the ball back for Eriksen who’s low first-time shot is saved by the feet of Forster on the stretch. Brilliant save by England’ No3-ish.
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4 mins: Spurs have started brightly. Lamela drives in off the right flank but runs into a cul-de-sac and Southampton shuffle the ball away for a throw.
“Hey Lawrence,” emails JR in Illinois. “Is there any way you could explain to me how Lamela is not suspended? He intentionally walked on a dude’s hand last week. You could make a good case that three of Spurs back four today plus Dier should be suspended as well but Lamela being out there is just ridiculous.” Yep, it’s odd. Cesc was fuming.
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2 mins: Toby Alderweireld serves up one of his measured diagonal hoofs but it’s a little long for Harry Kane and Southampton mop up.
Peeeeeep!
Jon Moss blows his whistle and Spurs kick us off. The home side are in traditional white shirts with blue shorts, while Southampton are decked out in red and white stripes.
The players are out in the north London sunshine. A myriad of hand-shaking is under way. Kick-off is imminent.
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“That Eric Dier clip, woof!” woofs Kelvin on email. “I’m surprised he wasn’t sent off for that tackle on Fabregas alone. Maybe Mane is in for the same treatment today.”
Ridiculously, he didn’t even get booked. The referee waved played advantage, some more horror-tackles flew in, and everyone just seemed to forget that Dier had booted another player into the night sky a minute earlier.
Pochettino is yet to lose to Southampton since leaving for Spurs in 2014, having won two and drawn one of the their three league contests since. Southampton haven’t beaten Tottenham in any competition since 2005, when Nigel Quashie scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at St Mary’s. Just for interest, these were the teams that day:
Southampton: Smith; Higginbotham, Lundekvam, Delap, Bernard, Le Saux, Quashie, Redknapp, Telfer, Camara, Crouch
Tottenham: Robinson, Gardener, Kelly, King, Edman, Brown, Carrick, Davies, Reid, Defoe, Mido
The Spurs bench was pretty special: Reto Ziegler, Frederic Kanoute, Robbie Keane, Radek Cerny, Noe Pamarot.
Mauricio Pochettino speaks:
It’s very important to finish in a very good way. Monday was a big disappointment for us, very tough, but we need to fight and win the next game. We need to be proud for the season. They have a great manager and we expect a very, very tough game.
Ronald Koeman speaks:
(European qualification) is possible, but it’s all about yourself. If we get a win today then of course Europe will be more close. (Tottenham) will have a reaction, they will be disappointed maybe after losing the title, but still they will be fighting for second place.
If you were Mauricio Pochettino would you be concerned by the royal rumble at Stamford Bridge last Monday night? Emotions were running high as their title hopes faded but I would be a little worried to see so many Tottenham players losing their cool, and particularly the young English contingent. They will be under greater scrutiny at Euro 2016, and England have previous with young talent seeing red on a big occasion.
Eric Dier turned into Roy Keane last night... https://t.co/a0SXmXlClM
— 888sport (@888sport) May 3, 2016
If you have some time to kill I can offer up some light reading. Match preview:
And here is Mauricio Pochettino, who definitely isn’t interested in finishing above Arsenal:
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No great surprises in either line-up then. Spurs will miss the tackling of Mousa Dembélé and his ability to carry the ball through midfield, after the Belgian was suspended for jabbing his finger in Diego Costa’s eye. In his place is Ryan Mason, who makes his first Premier League start since the 1-0 defeat to West Ham at the start of March.
Virgil van Dijk lines up in the centre of Southampton’s defence, a very good defender who replaced a very good defender playing for Spurs today, Toby Alderweireld. Virgil (I will be calling him Virgil from here on in because it is a fabulous name) yesterday signed a Pardew-esque six-year contract with Saints, who seem excited by the news:
Six more years! ❤️ #saintsfc pic.twitter.com/OVkRoCSnoN
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) May 7, 2016
The teams
Tottenham: Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier, Mason; Lamela, Eriksen, Son; Kane
Subs: Vorm, Davies, Wimmer, Carroll, Chadli, Winks, Clinton
Southampton: Forster; Martina, Van Dijk, Fonte, Bertrand; Wanyama, Clasie; Mané, Davis, Tadic; Long
Subs: Stekelenburg, Soares, Yoshida, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Pellè, Austin
Preamble
Leicester this, Leicester that. There are some other handy teams in the Premier League, you know. Take Tottenham and Southampton: only the newly crowned champions have a better Premier League record in 2016 than these two clubs.
Tottenham might feel the title was an opportunity missed, but they are 10 points off the top with two games to play so perhaps it was never really that close. Should Spurs win today they will finish runners-up above Arsenal (barring a cataclysmic goal-difference shift of Police Machine 67-0 Babayaro FC proportions on the final day), and that in itself would be a huge achievement. Second would be Tottenham’s highest top-flight finish since 1962-63, when Everton beat them to the title – imagine.
Pochettino has taken Spurs to a higher level during his time in charge, creating a relentless pressing machine who at their best smother their opposition before slicing them to pieces. The feeling around headline players like Harry Kane and Dele Alli is indicative of that progress: a standout season in a Spurs shirt not so long ago meant a summer move to Manchester United or Real Madrid, but now there is no lack of ambition in staying at White Hart Lane. Pochettino has made something worth sticking around for.
Ronald Koeman is creating something similar on the south coast, albeit on a smaller scale. After a mid-season dip Saints have found some of their best form, and three points here would lift them above West Ham to sixth and towards European football. Southampton can make some of their own history this season: sixth would mark the club’s best top-flight finish since 1984-85, when Everton beat them to the title – imagine.
Kick-off: 1.30pm BST
