EPL: 10-Men Saints Hold Spurs

Tottenham were unable to make their numerical advantage count as they were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-men Southampton after the Saints played just over an hour of the game with a man down following the sending off of Mohammed Salisu.

James Ward-Prowse had given the hosts the lead with a stunning strike, before Harry Kane restored parity from the penalty resulting from the dismissal of Salisu.

Despite their impressive performance against West Ham on Boxing Day, Ralph Hassenhuttl made six changes to his side. Understandably rotating his team, due to having to play three games in the space of five days.

Antonio Conte on his side made just three changes to his team, returning Harry Winks, Dele Alli and Ben Davies to the starting lineup.

The hosts were the first to make things happen with a couple of chances within the first 10 minutes and a heavy involvement of Kyle Walker-Pieters. His cross was narrowly headed wide by Shane Long, before another came off the top of the head of Adam Armstrong.

The England youngster was, however, lucky to have continued in the game after he brought down Sergio Reguilon, who was through on goal in what looked like a last man challenge, minutes after being booked for a foul on Alli.

The visitors then got the opener when Ben Davies was at the end of a Son free kick to head home past Fraser Forster. VAR would then rule out the goal for offside as Davies looked to have move a fraction too early.

Southampton eventually scored an opener that counted in the 25th minute. A long throw into the Spurs box unsettled the defence and the loose ball fell to Ward-Prowse, who hit a stunning strike into the top corner to gift his team the lead.

Salisu would then set his team on fire by receiving two yellow cards in the space of 12 minutes. He had initially received a booking for clattering into Emerson Royal, the resulting free kick from which Kane tested Forster. He then went ahead to bring down Son in the penalty area to receive his matching orders and Kane expertly dispatched the spot kick into the top left corner.

Drama would then ensue in the second half after Tottenham had two goals chalked off, the first in epic fashion. Winks had played Kane in on goal and the Spurs captain rounded Forster to score. As the teams were headed back to the center circle for the restart, VAR called Referee Anthony Taylor to rule out the goal for offside against Kane. What a drama.

The second was an own goal by goalkeeper, Forster, but VAR review adjudged substitute, Matt Doherty to have played an illegal role in ensuring the keeper comically dropped the ball into his own net.

As the game drew towards regulation time, Southampton began to feel the heat of being a man down when Spurs pressured with a flurry of chances created, which were either saved by Forster or blocked by the Saints defence.

Forster saved Son's header from a Bryan Gil cross, before Walker-Pieters' goal line clearance denied Kane and Jan Bednarek headed away the follow-up effort from Ben Davies.

The last chance of the game fell to Gil, who received a pass from Doherty to beat a couple of challenges. His effort was aiming for the top corner before Forster expertly tipped over for a corner.

Concluding Thoughts

How Spurs were unable to take the win is something that still eludes me despite the amount of pressure mounted and the plethora of chances created.

The arrival of Antonio Conte has definitely birthed a new belief in the team and they have returned in conversations about the top four as they are yet to lose in the league under the former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager.

It is too early to say whether he has done well or not compared to his recently ousted predecessors, but the belief he has re-ignited is there to see.

Having said all about Spurs, there's no way I'd talk about Southampton earning a point in that game without mentioning the heroics of Fraser Forster, who made a lot of saves to keep the visitors at bay. He was my Man of the Match.

Despite the impressive outing and how they were able to hold their own playing the better part of the game with 10 men, Southampton are still far from safe as they have only managed six points from their last five games, leaving them. In 13th position and just six points above the drop zone.

I would hope that they can scrap favourable results in their next two league fixtures against Newcastle and Wolves, before facing the acid test of Manchester City.