New Year’s Days seems to bring a lot of similar feelings to a lot of people on an annual basis from hangovers to the start of resolutions that will eventually be broken by February.
But for football fans, the first day of a new year means just one thing.
The majority of Premier League teams playing on New Year’s Day is seemingly the perfect way to kick-off the year, and for the clubs themselves, a win on this day is the ideal way to set the mood as to what’s to come later down the line, and for Tottenham, victory is vital.
Spurs travel down to the south coast to face a Southampton side brimming with confidence after a resurgence of sorts in the Premier League, with Ralph Hasenhuttl guiding the Saints out of the bottom three and into 15th place in the league table after positive results against the likes of Aston Villa and Chelsea.
Southampton...WinLoseDraw |
Indeed, Southampton gave Tottenham a good test in the reverse fixture this season back in September in which a 10-man Spurs side had to hang on to a 2-1 scoreline to secure one of Mauricio Pochettino’s last victories as manager of the club, and the north London club’s form away from home this campaign could make this a difficult match.
As tables from LiveScore show, Tottenham have one of the poorest away records in the Premier League this season with Jose Mourinho’s side claiming just two wins in their 10 games on the road this campaign, with only the league’s bottom three clubs having worse records.
Poor away form and playing against a side high on confidence as Charlie Nicholas put it in his preview for the game via Sky Sports News makes this a fixture that Spurs could struggle in, and with top-four within touching distance for Tottenham, they will need to overcome their mental block on playing on the road to secure the three points against Southampton.