Tottenham FC lost ground on the top four when they hosted Southampton on Wednesday night, but instead were the Saints who were able to rise the Premier League table after they twice came from behind to win 3-2.
A Jan Bednarek own goal in the 18th minute saw Spurs take the lead, but Southampton were able to quickly respond through Armando Borja.
Son Heung-min then re-established Tottenham’s lead in the 70th minute, but Mohamed Elyounoussi and Che Adams both netted in the space of three minutes to secure the victory for the Saints.
The game got off to a frantic start as Adams had the chance to score just a couple of minutes in, but he sent his shot straight at Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Shortly after in the 13th minute, Spurs had the goal in the back of the Southampton net, but Cristian Romero was correctly adjudged to have been offside when Son’s free-kick was taken.
The ascendancy was well and truly in Spurs’ favour at that point, as Fraser Forster had to make a good save to stop Sergio Reguilon from scoring before Tottenham eventually broke the deadlock in the 18th minute. Lucas Moura played a pass in behind for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who squared it across goal and it ended up being turned into his net by Bednarek.
However, there was an immediate response by Southampton, as straight from kick-off Broja ended up dribbling the ball into the area and ended up hitting a mixture of the post and Lloris.
Just five minutes after conceding, the Saints were level. Romain Perraud got forward from left-back and ended up sending a good cross into the six-yard box, which Broja turned past Lloris with a first-time finish.
Southampton’s dominance continued in the remainder of the first half, with Stuart Armstrong, Broja, Mohammed Salisu and Perraud all coming close to scoring, with the Frenchman even seeing his effort come back out off the crossbar.
There was a bit of a reaction from Tottenham after the half-time break, as Salisu had to make a last-ditch tackle on Son to rescue Southampton early in the second half before Harry Kane had a golden chance to score five minutes later, but his header down into the ground bounced over the bar. Spurs were eventually able to restore their one-goal lead in the 70th minute, yet it came in controversial circumstances. Borja appeared to have a head injury after Emerson Royal clattered into him, yet Tottenham went on the counter-attack and ended up scoring through Son. There was a bit of a delay afterwards as the goal was checked, but it ended upstanding.
Southampton felt hard done by, but they hit back perfectly, with James Ward-Prowse’s excellent crossing coming to the fore. Nine minutes after Spurs had taken the lead for the second time, Ward-Prowse sent a cross into the box and Elyounoussi arrived late to guide his header into the bottom corner.
Then, Ward-Prowse was again on hand to set up another goal three minutes later, as his first-time cross into the box found Adams, who sent his header into the top corner before wheeling off in celebration.
