Two sides striving for three points for entirely different reasons meet at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon, as Southampton host Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.

Ruben Selles’s basement-dwellers were put to the sword 2-0 by Brentford in midweek, while the Lilywhites most recently cruised past Nottingham Forest 3-1 last weekend.

Players to watch: Southampton ace Carlos Alcaraz will be hoping to serve up what would be a third goalscoring appearance from his last four PL home appearances, whilst Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski could be inspired by his goal in the reverse H2H to end his scoring drought of nearly two months.

Hot stat: Just two of the last 30 PL matches involving either club ended in a draw.

Southampton possible starting lineup:

Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Perraud; Ward-Prowse, Lavia; Walcott, Alcaraz, Sulemana; Onuachu

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Forster; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Porro, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Davies; Richarlison, Kane, Son

Southampton Premier League form:

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Southampton form (all competitions):

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Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

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Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

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Southampton 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur

A continued lack of ruthlessness and midweek fatigue will no doubt work against Southampton versus their more esteemed counterparts, who are primed to snap their dampening run of away defeats on the South Coast.

With Conte’s side not possessing the desired attacking formula on the road either, goals may be at a premium here, but a refreshed Lilywhites crop should boost their top-four chances at the expense of Southampton’s survival hopes.