Southampton v Tottenham preview: Spurs look to bounce back after Newcastle defeat

Tottenham are also looking to bounce back after last week’s shock home loss to Newcastle ended their 14-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.

Former Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino has been praised for the way he has solidified the Spurs team this term and he now needs to get a response from his players at his former club.

Pochettino led Southampton to an eighth-placed finish in the 2013/14 season and managed a 2-2 draw on his first return to St Mary’s a year ago.

Seven points is the gap to Norwich City in 18th and if their form does not improve the 1976 FA Cup winners could continue falling towards the relegation zone.

Graziano Pelle is expected to start for Southampton after being named among the substitutes last weekend, but goalkeepers Maarten Stekelenburg and Fraser Forster are still out so Paulo Gazzaniga is in line to start.

Clinton Njie (knee) is out with a knee problem, while Ryan Mason and Alex Pritchard both remain unavailable due to ankle injuries.

Southampton on the other hand have failed to win their last five league outings, picking up just one point in the process and now find themselves 12th in the standings with 21 points.

Tottenham have lost a league-high 11 points from winning positions this season in the Premier League.

Merson told Sky Sports: “Losing to Newcastle was Tottenham all over”. Prior to their poor handful of games, Southampton were chasing Spurs for a spot in the top six, and less than a month later they’re farther away than they’ve been all season.

Southampton were disappointing in last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace and the home fans will be expecting a much better display against Spurs here. Let’s see how exactly they’ll go about doing that, and what they need to do to prevent Southampton from finding their own advantage.

After seeing that long unbeaten run come to an end last time out, Pochettino will be hoping for an immediate reaction from his team.