Tottenham frustrated by 10-man Southampton after Harry Kane penalty

It threatened to be a long afternoon for Southampton when Mohammed Salisu was sent off with 51 minutes left to play but Tottenham Hotspur had to make do with a point from this breathless encounter. Antonio Conte may have preserved his unbeaten league record, becoming the first Spurs manager in history to go without defeat in his first seven matches in charge but there was no escaping the air of annoyance in his demeanour at the final whistle, after they failed to build on Harry Kane’s first-half penalty. In fact, Southampton could have snatched victory had Davinson Sánchez not blocked from the substitute Armando Broja after Eric Dier made a hash of a routine clearance midway through five minutes of stoppage time.

Conte was mindful of disrupting the momentum fostered in the last few weeks and so stopped short of radically changing things but decided to give Lucas Moura – arguably Spurs’ star performer in the victory over Crystal Palace on Boxing Day – a breather, until calling on him to replace the muted Dele Alli with an hour gone. Alli, Ben Davies and Harry Winks, all of whom impressed from the off against Liverpool before Christmas, were restored to the starting lineup, but Conte’s fear about his team losing its identity was apparent as Southampton sped into the lead through their captain, James Ward-Prowse.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/28/southampton-tottenham-premier-league-match-report