Two goals from Graziano Pellè were not enough to earn Southampton all three points in their match against Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs twice came from behind to end the match at St. Mary’s Stadium level and maintain their one point advantage over the Saints in the back end of this Premier League campaign.
Southampton
Kelvin Davis – 6.0: No real fault for either goal, came off his line smartly a few times.
Nathaniel Clyne – 6.5: Did not give his opponents space often. Had a couple of crosses but none telling.
Maya Yoshida – 6.0: Read the play fairly well but was caught too far off his man in a couple of instances.
José Fonte – 6.5: Managed to keep Kane fairly quiet throughout the match but the Saints skipper would have been disappointed to see his side concede twice in such an important match.
Ryan Bertrand – 6.5: Put a few balls into good areas but could not connect with his forwards.
Toby Alderweireld – 6.5: Seemed comfortable after his injury in the last match.
James Ward-Prowse – 6.5: Created a few opportunities with crosses into the box.
Sadio Mané – 7.5: The Senegalese winger looked lively making some smart runs and, on a couple of occasions, played smart balls into the box
Steven Davis – 5.5: The midfielder missed three good opportunities to score putting his shots well off target each time. Had no real dramatic impact on proceedings.
Morgan Schneiderlin – 7.0: Saw his early volley saved. Typical smart passing and defensive cover.
Graziano Pellè – 8.0: The Italian striker seemed to have confidence in abundance, helped by a gift from Tottenham’s defence allowing him to score in the 29th minute. Scored his second, a powerful header, midway through the second half for his 11th goal of the 2014/15 season.
Substitutes
Shane Long – 6.5: Substituted on in the 62nd for James Ward-Prowse. Assisted Pellè’s second.
Eljero Elia – 5.0: Substituted on in the 81st for Steven Davis
Harrison Reed – N/A: Substituted on in injury time for Morgan Schneiderlin
[interaction id=”553cc5a3a39598ff056fa515″]
Tottenham Hotspur
Hugo Lloris – 7.5: The skipper looked comfortable in his return reacting quickly to make a few good saves and could not have been expected to do much with either goal.
Eric Dier – 7.0: Assisted Chadli’s goal. Solid defensive performance.
Ben Davies – 5.5: A none too impressive performance that saw him fail to deal with a ball allowing Pellè in to prod past Lloris for the opener. A slip saw him replaced by Chiricheş in the 76th minute due to injury.
Jan Vertonghen – 6.5: Composed at the back. Tottenham’s defence saw another new combination and at times were not entirely on the same wavelength.
Federico Fazio – 6.0: Typical rough, hard tackling performance from the defender, though committed a few poorly timed fouls.
Erik Lamela – 6.5: Appeared to handball his goal and the Southampton defenders were able to handle his movement for most of the game.
Christian Eriksen – 7.0: Familiar smart passing but none resulting in anything significant.
Nabil Bentaleb – 7.0: Provided good defensive cover on a few occasions but some errant passing and, much like many of his teammates, some poorly timed slips let him down.
Nacer Chadli – 7.0: Goal the only real highlight of his performance, Chadli toiled away trying to create opportunities but a few crosses and off-target shots his only other contribution.
Ryan Mason – 5.5: His slip and subsequent back pass lead to Southampton’s first goal and was unable to add anything significant the rest of the game to rectify his mistake.
Harry Kane – 6.0: Had no major impact on the game, was tightly marked for the entirety of the contest.
Substitutes
Vlad Chiricheş – 5.0: Substituted on in the 76th for Ben Davies
Mousa Dembélé – 5.0: Substituted on in the 83rd for Nacer Chadli
Soldado – N/A: Substituted on in the 87th for Nabil Bentaleb
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
