Paul Merson makes ‘dodgy’ Tottenham claim v Southampton – ‘Disastrous’
Tottenham Hotspur can relegate Southampton on Sunday afternoon with a win in North London.
Saints have endured an utterly abject first season back in the Premier League – but relatively speaking, Spurs have seldom had a lot more to cheer about.
Tottenham fans will see Sunday’s league encounter as merely an audition or a rehearsal for Thursday night’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt (10 April) – a tie which has become seismic.
Tottenham ‘disastrous season’ mooted ahead of Frankfurt
The next two Thursdays will single-handedly dictate the outlook of the season for Tottenham Hotspur, and for the future of Ange Postecoglou.
Worse still, Spurs could successfully navigate their tricky tie with the 2022 Europa League winners and still fall short in the semi-final or the final – constituting a woeful campaign.
Former Arsenal man Paul Merson, speaking on Sky Sports News (5 April, 13:08), echoed what the Spurs supporters already know – to win every Premier League game between now and the end of the season would still have no positive effect if their side do not win their first trophy in 17 years.
“I think the players are looking at Thursday night,” Merson stated.
“This week against Southampton, I think, is a dodgy game now because it all comes down to Thursday’s.
“If they win their next eight Premier League games and go out of the Europa League, it’s been an absolutely disastrous season.”
Postecoglou to approach Southampton tentatively
Postecoglou’s approach to the Southampton fixture will be intriguing, in that the head coach has to find the balance between a potentially ideal route to three points for confidence and momentum, and not risking his top-calibre players.
If the now-16th-placed Lilywhites beat their South Coast opponents but are forced to head into their quarter-final without a key man, fans will resent Postecoglou for fielding them in what they inevitably view as an obsolete league contest.
On the other hand, Sunday is effectively a lose-lose for Postecoglou. A win is expected regardless of how the domestic season has panned out – a once-remarkable Southampton are nowadays the worst side the top flight has seen for years.
And there are a few contenders, including this season’s Leicester City team who have taken four of their 17 points from Spurs this season.
| POS | Premier League 2024-25 | PLD | PTS | GD |
| 16 | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | 30 | 34 | +11 |
| 17 | Wolves | 31 | 32 | -16 |
| 18 | Ipswich | 31 | 20 | -34 |
| 19 | Leicester | 30 | 17 | -42 |
| 20 | Southampton | 30 | 10 | -49 |
Ivan Juric’s Saints will turn up in N17 with their own unique motivation on Sunday. Fight for their lives; their pride, and prey on Tottenham’s weakness and potential hostility in the crowd. The only factor likely to let them down is their Championship-quality squad.
The starting XI Postecoglou names for Tottenham this weekend is almost impossible to predict; likewise, somehow, is the result of a fixture usually deemed a formality.
It’s all on Thursday. But Sunday could hammer another unnecessary nail in.