It was an evening delight for Tottenham Hotspur as the side thrashed the lowly Southampton Saints in a 5-0 win on Sunday.
Seeing the likes of Djed Spence and Lucas Bergvall getting their first Premier League starts for the club, Spence made an instant impact 30 seconds into the game.
Winning a strong touch with a defender on his back, Spence turned his Saints defender and made his way towards the Saints half of the pitch. Spence carried the ball and found the streaking James Maddison through the middle of the Saints’ defense. Receiving the weighted ball from Spence, Maddison hit his shot through the legs of Alex McCarthy and into the back of the net 37 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead.
Dictating the game in the entirety of the first half as Southampton have proven to be the laughing stock of the leg this year with poor defending, Spurs jumped on them with a defensive mistake for the second goal.
Maddison sent a cross into the box, and with the ball flicked by a Southampton defender— leaving the other disposed in marking — the ball fell to Heung-min Son for a first-time volley into the ground and through McCarthy for a 2-0 lead 11 minutes in.
Leading 2-0 for the second consecutive week — with the hope of seeing through an early lead and three points to tally — Spurs continued the drubbing four minutes later.
Son received a ball on the left wing from Maddison off a break, and with it, he had Dejan Kulusevski going through the muddle and Dominic Solanke prowling behind for the ball. As Son sent a low driven cross towards the six-yard box for Solanke, the ball couldn’t come out of the feet quick enough for the striker. Still, with the defender and goalie out of position with the ball laying around the spot, Kulusevski finished his run with an easy strike on goal for a 3-0 lead.
Southampton’s Russell Martin made a tactical substitution to stop the bleeding, but Spurs kept coming.
Destiny Udogie began the break for the fourth goal as he won the ball off a Southampton attacker and went down the pitch with Son on his left. Giving Son a well-timed ball to cut back onto his right foot, Son squared his pass to the top of the box with a streaking Pape Sarr coming onto it. In full sprint with his touch, Sarr pulled off the teckers with his dribbling as he left Saints defenders in the dust and a left-footed shot for a 4-0 lead.
After the goal, Udogie was subbed off as he was down, having his hammy looked, and he was subbed off for Pedro Porro. Udogie is now the 10th senior player to be injured or suspended for the side. What a time to have all this happening in the congested fixture run.
In the final 10 minutes of the first half, both sides looked tired and ready for the break, but with 30 seconds left in the half, Maddison grabbed his brace off a spectacular finish from an acute angle.
Son played Maddison to the goal line, and with a fake shot chop to get the ball onto his favored right foot, Maddison fought off a tug of the shirt to leather his shot to the far top corner of the net for a 5-0 scoreline.
In the second half, Spurs left off the gas a smidge, as neither side scored. But, multiple players had the chance to earn Premier League debuts for Ange Postecoglou. The two, in brilliant fashion, were Spence and Bergvall. Spence made an impact from both fullback positions before coming off with a calf injury after 70 minutes of action. For Bergvall, he was the No. 6 for the day, and although he had moments where he was outmuscled off the ball, Bergvall showed poise and recovered well.
Overall, it was a brilliant night with the scoreline. Yes, it may be against one of the worst Premier League sides in history, but with how the up and down season has gone so far, this could be the start to flipping the season for a Top-4 push.