For just the 11th time in the Premier League this season, Tottenham Hotspur took all three points in a league match — first win since a 4-1 win at Ipswich Town on February 22nd — as the side dominated the first relegated side of the campaign in Southampton 3-1 on Sunday.
With the Saints on the brink of relegation and possibly setting a new record for fewest points in a Premier League campaign, Spurs started the game on the front foot. The side controlled the pace and shots on goal in the first 10 minutes.
The first chance of the game for Spurs came from a corner kick by Pedro Porro. Swinging in his right-footed corner to the middle of the box, Cristian Romero beat his man mark and had a bullet header straight at Aaron Ramsdale that kept the game scoreless. Romero had another header minutes later with another ball coming from Porro, and Ramsdale’s face saved his header at the back post.
The last time the two sides played, Spurs put five past the Saints in the first half. They were looking to keep the hot form rolling against the worst side in the league. Enduring a quick spell from the Saints on one of the pitches, Spurs flipped the pitch quickly and capitalized on the poor defense with a trademark goal.
Romero pinged a ball to James Maddison in the middle of the pitch before controlling it and hitting Son Heung-Min in the left channel. With Djed Spence running an overlap and laying it off for the left back, Spence took a deep touch towards the goal line before squaring it towards the 12-yard box for Brennan Johnson to be in the right spot to slip his shot past two defenders and into the back of the net.
Leading 1-0 and having an argument to be 3-0 up within a quarter of an hour, Spurs thought they had their second goal of the game and the first Premier League goal for Lucas Bergvall.
Porro sent his free kick towards the middle of the box to allow Romero to get his head on it and put it back into the middle of the box. With the ball coming down and a Saint defender around him, Bergvall stuck his leg out for a cross net volley that left Ramsdale frozen and the home side jumping. But a four-minute and 53-second VAR check determined that Romero was marginally offside and kept the game at 1-0. Semi-automated checks will be starting next week in the Premier League, with many frustrated about how long offside checks have taken.
Despite the annoyance that Spurs couldn’t get the second goal across the line yet, Johnson put together a brace for himself as a defensive breakdown once more allowed Maddison to win a header inside the 18-yard box and right onto the foot of Johnson to flick it past Ramsdale for his 50th career English goal.
Only leading 2-0 into the break, Spurs came out in the second half and once more looked to be on the defensive foot to give the relegating side a chance to make it a nervous match.
Scoring in the 89th minute to stop Spurs from securing a clean sheet, Southampton showed why they are the worst side in the league, as a tackle in the box on Johnson in the final seconds of the game gave Spurs a chance to set up a hat-trick chance for Johnson.
As Mathys Tel grabbed the ball to signal this was his moment, Johson kept reminding him about the chance to get the hat-trick, but the loanee from Bayern Munich seemed not to care and buried his penalty past the diving hands of Ramsdale for his first Premier League goal.
Securing all three points and sending down the first relegated side of the season, Spurs now sit 13th with 37 points. The side turns its focus to hosting the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals against Frankfurt on Thursday.
