Southampton v Tottenham predictions: Improving Spurs too strong for hosts

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Southampton v Tottenham in the Premier League on Tuesday.

Where to watch

Amazon Prime Video, 3pm Tuesday

Best bet

Tottenham
1pt 11-10 bet365

Team news

Southampton
Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy has been ruled out, so Fraser Forster should retain his place. Jack Stephens, Nathan Tella and Lyanco all returned positive Covid tests before Sunday's win over West Ham.

Tottenham
Cristian Romero and Ryan Sessegnon are expected to miss out again while Giovani Lo Celso is a doubt.

Match preview

Antonio Conte has wasted no time in lifting the spirits at Tottenham and the impressive Italian can stretch his Premier League unbeaten run in the Spurs hotseat to seven with victory at Southampton.

A 3-0 Boxing Day bashing of Crystal Palace has put Tottenham just six points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with three games in hand and in the meantime helped to stop a cycle of negativity.

Spurs are certainly more organised with Conte at the helm than they were under his predecessors Jose Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo and their upturn in form should ensure they are full of confidence for their trip to St Mary’s.

Tottenham have collected 13 points from their last five league games and although each of those fixtures has come in north London, there is no obvious reason to think they will start to falter now just because they are going on the road.

Spurs’ only away game under Conte came just five days after his arrival - a goalless draw against Everton at Goodison Park, where chances for both teams were few and far between.

Since then, however, Tottenham have recorded an expected goals figure of at least 2.0 in their subsequent five starts.

The Londoners scored just nine goals during Nuno’s ten matches in charge but that goal tally has improved to 12 in six under Conte, who is already excelling in raising the standards of key personnel.

South Korean star Heung-Min Son has netted in each of Tottenham’s last four league games and is once more terrorising defences, while talisman Harry Kane is also back among the goals and has opened the scoring in consecutive fixtures.

Their two chief scoring threats are fit and firing while Luca Moura put in a man-of-the-match display against Palace, so Southampton should be fearing the worst.

The Saints prevailed in a five-goal epic at West Ham on Boxing Day but would have exerted considerably more energy than Spurs did in their easy win over ten-man Palace, who failed to register an effort on goal.

Not only are Tottenham looking more dangerous in forward areas but there is greater shape and identity to their play, resulting in them conceding in just two of Conte’s six league outings.

While Spurs are keeping opponents at bay, the same cannot be said for Southampton, who have leaked 16 goals in their last seven top-flight fixtures.

Only title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool have claimed more points than Tottenham since Conte’s appointment and their purple patch should continue on the south coast.

Key stat

Tottenham have won each of the last three meetings with Southampton.

Inside info

Southampton

Penalty taker James Ward-Prowse
Free-kick wizardJames Ward-Prowse
Set-piece aerial threatJan Bednarek
Card magnetMohammed Salisu

Tottenham

Penalty taker Harry Kane
Free-kick wizard Eric Dier
Set-piece aerial threat Harry Kane
Card magnet Oliver Skipp

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