It’s not often to say Southampton can head into a game against a top-six side and feel genuinely confident about causing an upset, but they should be this weekend.
The Saints travel up the M3 to London to take on a Tottenham side who look like a shadow of their former Champions League finalists self following a poor start to the season, with Mauricio Pochettino facing scrutiny from supporters for the first time in his Spurs career as reported by BBC Sport and big names amongst the squad seemingly having their heads turned as reported by The Guardian.
This is also a Tottenham side who go into this afternoon’s fixture on the back of two defeats, both of which are of some embarrassing proportion for the north London side.
Last weekend saw Spurs lose to Leicester City after going a goal up and conceding the killing goal five minutes from time, and this Tuesday saw the Premier League giants being eliminated from the League Cup by Colchester United, a team that languish slap bang in the middle of the League Two table.
Southampton, meanwhile, will trek to the English capital on the back of one of their most resounding victories in their modern era, with the south coast side putting Portsmouth, their biggest rivals, to the sword in an excellent 4-0 display that has lifted the spirits around the city and the club like no other result could.
This new-found level of confidence will make Southampton feel they are 10 feet tall, and although their last win against Tottenham in north London came over three years ago, this fairly long-stretch of time without three points from Spurs will be the last thing playing on the player’s minds.
The Saints, based off one result, will have the belief and the confidence to think they have a shot at toppling one of the Premier League big boys this weekend, and based on the form of their opposition, who can blame them?
