The Mauricio Pochettino derby lacked an important ingredient – Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentinian was sat in the directors’ box here, paying off the first instalment of a two-game touchline ban for improper conduct, and he was left feeling helpless and infuriated as his current club were beaten by his old one via a second-half turnaround that appeared to come from nowhere.
Tottenham seemed set for victory when Harry Kane scored his 200th career goal on 26 minutes after the visitors, for whom Dele Alli made a return from seven weeks out with a hamstring injury, utterly dominated proceedings. But then came the interval and clearly something was said by the Southampton manager, Ralph Hasenhüttl, in the changing room. His team came out like a team reborn, on the front foot and fearless, and ultimately secured victory thanks to goals from Yan Valery and James Ward-Prowse. The win, Southampton’s second in succession here, moves them up to 16th. Tottenham remain third, but after dropping points in the league for a second successive game they will fear they will not remain there for long.
Written by Sachin Nakrani at St Mary’s Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/09/southampton-tottenham-premier-league-match-report under the title “James Ward-Prowse free-kick caps Saints comeback against Tottenham”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
