Southampton already faced Liverpool and Manchester United early in the season and, with the South Coast derby at the Carabao Cup also behind our backs, all the attention is focused on the upcoming test against Tottenham.
The London team is off to a hesitant start; netting two wins, two draws and two losses since the beginning of the season. Nevertheless, bookmakers’ general verdict is that Southampton doesn’t face great chances of winning the game.
Granted, nothing is set in stone, especially when considering the demoralising draw against Olympiacos last Wednesday – a game that also was expected to end with a victory for the Spurs. “Spurs will be kicking themselves,” Rio Ferdinand commented about the game to BT Sport.
Lest we forget that the team also suffered a defeat during their last EPL game against Leicester, although Pochetino praised his team during the post-game press conference, saying “performance was fantastic for the team.”
At the same time, prior to the game in the East Midlands, he said to the Guardian that “at the moment” he doesn’t think this is the best Tottenham has played since his arrival, adding that it’s better to wait till the end of the season for a full assessment.
The question is, was losing a two-goal lead at a Champions League game and a loss against the Foxes enough to throw Pochettino’s boys off their game for the upcoming face-off with the Saints?
It’s quite true, however, that definitive conclusions about the final standings this early in the season amount to little more than guessing. All is on the cards still, and the entire EPL is set to offer thrilling betting opportunities, especially with defending champions Liverpool facing stiff competition at the top, and Southampton sporting a decent chance for a Top-10 finish. Even new punters can enjoy the action thanks to the abundance of welcome bonus offers available for comparison on Oddschecker.
To be fair, Spurs have been plagued by injuries from the start of the season, including new signings Ryan Sessegnon (who is yet to make his debut for the team), and Giovani Lo Celso, whose injury from the beginning of the month renders him unusable possibly until after October. Neither of the two will make an appearance for the Saturday game, but otherwise, Pochetino’s line-up is well and ready.
On the Saint’s side, the good news is that after recovering from an ankle injury, Nathan Redmond returned to the team as a substitute in the Bournemouth game. The bad news is he did so to replace the injured Moussa Djenepo, whose muscle trauma has turned out to be worse than expected.
*This article was written and produced for publishing on Read Southampton by Ojo Olayiwola of Football Weeks and Arsenal Blogs.
