Tottenham Hotspur will travel to St. Mary’s Stadium this weekend to face Southampton in the Premier League. Both teams are fresh from a thrashing courtesy of Chelsea and West Ham respectively, and will be eyeing all three points to get over their humiliation.
Tottenham are still without major first team players, as was evident in the 2-4 humbling at White Hart Lane last Saturday.
Southampton had travelled to Upton Park and were given a football lesson themselves, West Ham style. The Hammers got promoted to the top flight along with Southampton, but have enjoyed far better fortunes so far.
Southampton
Expected starting line-up:
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Guilherme-c15315 Do Prado, Jason Puncheon, Rickie Lambert.
Southampton will most probably feature the same team that travelled to Upton Park last week. However, Rickie Lambert is expected to start up front after he was surprisingly dropped on the bench last weekend.
The striker’s been in good form since the Premier League started, and Southampton will be expecting him to turn up against Tottenham after the North London’s poor defensive showing against Chelsea.
Adam Lallana will captain the team, and has been perhaps the team's most underrated player. The attacking midfielder will play up front the central midfield pairing and hope to take advantage of the absence of Moussa Dembele and Scott Parker.
Tottenham’s lack of defensive strength will be a plus point for Southampton, who will be looking to take the game to the visitors.
Tottenham
Expected starting line-up:
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jermain-Defoe-c18359.
Tottenham are still without the likes of Scott Parker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Eden-Hazard-c11863 ran riot
in the middle.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Bale-c14422 was another key absence last week. The player had been allowed to skip the game on account of his son’s birth, but is expected to return this weekend against Southampton.
Jermain Defoe’s fine form ensures his inclusion in the starting 11. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Emmanuel-Adebayor-c12526 is likely to start on the bench as rumours claiming a January exit gather fire. The player has been reportedly understood to be unhappy at the club and has not made a start
since his permanent move from Manchester City.
However, manager Andre Villas-Boas insists that Adebayor remains a part of his plans, and is currently struggling with a back injury.
Gylfi Sigurdsson will also start from the bench as Clint Dempsey starts in the central attacking midfield role. The American is more of a central player, and struggled in a wide role last week against Chelsea. Villas-Boas will be counting on the American
to turn up the heat against the hosts.
Final predicted score:
Southampton 1-2 Tottenham
Southampton may have trouble coping with Tottenham’s midfield strength and attacking flair. I expect the North London club to edge out on the hosts and grab all three points in dramatic fashion. Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale will score for Tottenham while
Rickie Lambert will score for the home side.
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