London, February 10 (BUS): Southampton came back twice from two goals down to make a huge impact on Tottenham Hotspur’s top four ambitions with a 3-2 win away from home in a fantastic Premier League game.
Son Heung-min appeared to have secured an important victory for struggling Tottenham with a fine finish 20 minutes from time.
But Southampton, who had been the better team all along, scored two goals within three minutes.
Mohamed El-Younusi scored the equalizer before Che Adams netted the visitors with another header – James Ward Bruce crossed for both goals, Reuters reported.
With rain in north London there was still plenty of time for more drama as substitute Stephen Bergwijn thought he had saved a point, but his attempt was ruled out due to an apparent offside after a VAR check.
Tottenham’s second consecutive defeat in the league left them in seventh place with 36 points, four points behind West Ham United, although they played three fewer games. Southampton occupies tenth place.
It was a stressful night for Tottenham manager Antonio Conte who watched his team beat them at times and defend appallingly. He was also involved in a fierce colloquial match with Southampton players and the technical staff after Son’s goal.
“In the first half we made a lot of mistakes and often the pass was not good and we risked complicating our lives today,” Conte said. “The players gave everything tonight and that’s why it was so unfortunate to lose the match.”
The night was off to a good start for Spurs when Lucas Moura played a clever pass to Pierre-Emile Hojberg and a low cross was intercepted at Son, by Saints defender Jan Bednarek who could only turn the ball into his own net.
Southampton immediately switched up their form and started opening up the Spurs squad with some fluent football.
They leveled five minutes later when Spurs failed to clear the ball from their area after Ben Davies initially fouled and when Romain Peraud played the ball at Armando Bruga, he scored for the first time.
Sensing Spurs’ unease, Southampton pushed forward before the break and Stewart Armstrong’s header forced the rescue of Hugo Lloris. He then let Perraud fly a 30-meter thunderbolt that overcame Lloris but hit the crossbar.
Spurs were still struggling to seize any kind of control in the second half, and former Southampton player Hogburg opened the way for new signing Rodrigo Bentancur.
Then the hosts took the lead in the 70th minute when Harry Kane played in Mora, who fired with a low shot for Son to match a shot that he controlled brilliantly.
Southampton felt there was something wrong with Emerson Royal’s Brogga in preparations, and while he was receiving treatment, Conte lost his nerve, waving gestures from the Southampton players.
When order was restored, it was Southampton who had the clear heads and thanks to a few great passes from Ward Prowse and some Spurs signs that weren’t there, they went home with three well-deserved points.
“The mentality and character of the team is outrageous and it’s great to watch,” said coach Ralf Hessenhuttl.
“They fight for everything. We played great football and made 23 passes before the second goal. Great.”