Solanke flops, Johnson shines – Tottenham player ratings v Southampton
Ange Postecoglou saw some of the pressure on him ease as Tottenham beat Southampton 3-1 in the Premier League on Sunday.
Postecoglou could not afford a defeat against bottom-of-the-table Southampton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (6 April), with tensions high ahead of kick-off as supporters took to the street to protest against Daniel Levy and ENIC.
Therefore, the decision to leave one key Tottenham player on the bench seemed like a big risk.
However, in the end, this decision didn’t prove costly, as Spurs secured a much-needed win – even if not all of the players showed up for Postecoglou – which confirmed Southampton’s relegation from the Premier League.
Brennan Johnson opened the scoring for the hosts, smashing home a Djed Spence cutback after 13 minutes in North London.
Lucas Bergvall thought he had doubled the lead in the 33rd minute. However, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was ruled out as Cristian Romero was adjudged to have been in an offside position during the build-up, with the Premier League making an official announcement about the incident.
Luckily for Tottenham, this didn’t matter too much as Johnson grabbed his second of the afternoon minutes later to double the Spurs lead.
There was little to report from the second half as the match slowly petered out with very little happening at either end of the pitch until Mateus Fernandes popped up with a late goal for Southampton, before Johnson won a penalty deep into stoppage time, which was converted by Mathys Tel.
Johnson shines as Tottenham secure win v Southampton
Guglielmo Vicario – 6
Pedro Porro – 6
Cristian Romero – 6
Ben Davies – 6
Djed Spence – 7
Rodrigo Bentancur – 6
Lucas Bergvall – 6
James Maddison – 7
Solanke struggles for Tottenham v Southampton
Brennan Johnson – 8
| Tottenham 2024/25 | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Brennan Johnson | 40 | 14 | 4 |
Dominic Solanke – 4
Son Heung-min – 4
Subsitutes
Wilson Odobert (On for Son, 57′) – 5
Pape Matar Sarr (On for Bentancur, 57′) – 5
Archie Gray (On for Bergvall, 80′) – N/A
Yves Bissouma (On for Maddison, 80′) – N/A
Mathys Tel (On for Solanke, 87′) – 5