PL: Southampton put on show of resilience against Tottenham

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Southampton 1 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

Southampton held Tottenham to a draw despite playing with 10 men for over 50 minutes at St Mary's.

Ralph Hasenhuttl's side started well when James Ward-Prowse cut across a bouncing ball to volley a swerving shot past Hugo Lloris for a superb opener.

The home side looked to have undone their great work when Mohammed Salisu fouled Son Heung-min in the box to earn himself a second booking in a short period of time. This allowed Harry Kane to score.

In the second 45 minutes, Spurs twice had the ball in the net. Kane saw a strike ruled out by VAR for a narrow offside. Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster was then spared own-goal blushes when it was judged he was fouled by Matt Doherty.

Reaction from St Mary's

Spurs Head Coach Antonio Conte was annoyed that his side didn't take advantage of the extra man. He told the club's website: “We have to be a bit frustrated for the final result. We’ve played a lot, the last three games against Liverpool, West Ham and Crystal Palace and today, I tried to make rotation, but only three players, because on one hand if you have big rotation, you make the team fresher, but on the other hand, sometimes you can drop the level of the team.

“It was a pity because when we arrived at this type of situation to play against 10 men, you have to try to exploit it 100 per cent and get the three points. Today, for fatigue and other situations, we made many mistakes.

“In the first half, Southampton started very well, better than us. We have to improve in this aspect, in the mentality, why we have to take a slap before we make a reaction. This is the big job that awaits, to change the mentality and to improve in many aspects, because after we conceded the goal, we started to play. Why do we have to wait, I repeat, to take a slap, before we react?”

One Tottenham fan told us: "We really need to be winning these matches. This was a poor result given the circumstances."

Harry Kane tweeted: "Frustrating not to find a winner against 10 men. Need to kick on and start the new year strong."

 Southampton on the other hand would have been happy with how they responded in the second-half.

Ralph Hasenhüttl gave his thoughts to the Southampton website: “We took a lot of risks in the first half, and then in the second half we defended with everything we have. In the end, as I said at half time to the guys, because of our first half we deserved to get something here."

Romain Perraud posted on Twitter: "Amazing fighting spirit today. Good to be back.We keep going!"

One fan replied: "You have played really well every time you’ve played ,a superb signing that will only get better."

Another added: "Excellent performance today Romain. More of the same against Newcastle (if it goes ahead)."

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