Tottenham fans, how good does it feel to finally win a game again? It wasn’t an easy win either, as with ten men the Lilywhites put in a dogged performance to hold onto a 2-1 lead after Serge Auerier had been dismissed just after the half an hour mark for two yellow cards.
When Aurier was dismissed it was only 1-0 to Mauricio Pochettino’s side, but then, as if going down to ten wasn’t enough, Hugo Lloris had a nightmare moment when an attempted Cryuff turn on Danny Ings went oh so wrong and the Southampton frontman capitalised by turning the ball into the net.
From there, Harry Kane came up with an equaliser, finishing with style after a slick passing move on the counter-attack, but in the second half chances for the home side were few and far between. Instead, it was the Saints who played the better football and made the better chances.
When it would have been easy for Lloris to crumble under the mistake he made for the goal he conceded, that was far from what happened, as the Frenchman stepped up in the second half with a couple of sublime stops, denying James Ward-Prowse’s superb free-kick and Maya Yoshida’s header from a corner.
In truth, this could well have been a massive win for the Lilywhites had they not gone down to ten men, but the sending off made it a backs against the wall display. In the last few weeks, Pochettino’s side have struggled to hold onto leads, but that was not to be the case here.
The 4-0 win they got over Crystal Palace a couple of weeks back was emphatic, but not what they needed. Instead, this was the sort of display they were after. It wasn’t pretty, and not much of it will make an end of season highlight reel, but it’s the sort of game that top sides find a way to win, and there’s no doubt that this Spurs team is a top side.