Premier League: Saints and Spurs Yet to Make a Start

Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur

They have already played a Premier League game each, but when Southampton host Spurs this weekend, both teams will be looking to open their 2020-21 account.

Saints lost their opener to Crystal Palace 1-0 while Spurs surrendered meekly to Everton and, in each case, they ceded points to a direct rival.

Jose Mourinho is the latest Spurs head coach to try to deliver some silverware, but reaching a top-four place is the priority. Meanwhile, the Saints had a disastrous first half of the 2019/20 season but recovered well to finish comfortably in midtable, and they will hope to kick on this year.

This Premier League clash has all the makings of a close fought game and the odds, which have Spurs as marginal favourites, tell us all three possible results are well in play.

 

Talking Points

Southampton

It was a bit of a chaotic start to the season for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints in defeat to the Eagles.

Right full-back Kyle Walker-Peters may consider himself a little lucky to be available this weekend after he had a red card overturned in last week’s clash.

He appeared to go studs up in a tackle on Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell, but referee Jon Moss downgraded the red card to yellow after looking at the VAR monitor. It was a poor tackle and probably worth an orange!

The speedy Nathan Redmond had a great chance to equalise but he spurned his chance after a flowing Saints move, while star striker Danny Ings was feeding on scraps.

 

Tottenham Hotspur

According to the early season SBOTOP odds, Mourinho’s men are likely to finish around sixth place, but an uninspiring opening day defeat to Everton was not the start the head coach will have wanted in his push to improve this Spurs side.

He has moved to strengthen the team and has plans to keep doing so. The switch of midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Southampton to Spurs has weakened the Saints midfield while adding some bite to Tottenham.

Mourinho’s priority is to find a strike partner for Harry Kane, and the Saints’ hitman Danny Ings is one of the players he admires.

Meanwhile, a Turkish news outlet has just reported that Spurs have made a £23m bid for Crystal Palace striker Alexander Sorloth. The 24-year-old has been on loan at Turkish Super League side Trabzonspor and he bagged 24 goals in 34 appearances in his first season.

He could be the man to work alongside Kane, but Spurs would have to shell out a cool £30m. They also face competition from RB Leipzig, who are still looking to replace their departed goal machine, Timo Werner.

And then, of course, the big Premier League 2020 news is that former Spurs winger Gareth Bale is rumoured to be close to a return.

With a Europa League qualifying campaign just around the corner Mourinho needs to get the numbers in before long. He may consider shopping at St Mary’s again, but in the meantime, he wants to plunder three points this weekend.

 

History

The head-to-head results between the two sides in the Premier League era have been in Spurs’ favour with 22 wins, but the Saints have had plenty of success, coming out on top on 14 occasions while there have only been seven draws.

Tottenham won the last meeting, a five-goal thriller in the fourth round of the FA Cup back in February. Trailing 1-2 late in the game, Spurs hit back with a goal from Lucas Moura and a last gasp penalty converted by Heung-Min Son.

As they advanced to the fifth round, attacking midfielder Dele Alli said his side deserved to win a trophy after failing to win any silverware since 2008…but we all know how that turned out as North London rivals Arsenal picked up the 2020 FA Cup!

Saints are unbeaten in four games at home to Tottenham, and have won 11 of the last 22 at home to their weekend opponents.

Aside from the FA Cup win for Spurs, both sides won their home league fixtures in the last campaign, the Saints winning at St Mary’s 1-0, while Spurs won their home game by 2-1.

 

Betting Tip

	Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur	Southampton Asian Handicap 0.00 @ 2.25
	September 20, 19:00 (GMT+8)

The Premier League 2020 betting odds give both teams a good shout for this game, with the hosts at 2.69, the visitors at 2.43 and the draw at 3.16… so take your pick!

The Saints have a 50 per cent win rate at home to Spurs so I’m backing them, draw no bet, to keep that up against a Mourinho side which is in transition.

A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR () BETS ARE WORTH:
= €20 (Highly confident)	= €10 (CONFIDENT)	= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)

Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.

 

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