Prediction: Southampton vs Tottenham

Prediction: Southampton win

Best Odds: 15/8

Bookmaker: bet365

The FA Cup is back once again as we gear up for the fourth round of football’s oldest club competition. A variety of top flight sides are still left in the mix, whereas the lower leagues are also pretty well represented at this stage in proceedings. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at what is bound to be a fascinating encounter between Southampton and Tottenham who meet just a matter of weeks after their clash in the Premier League.

Southampton

Ralph Hassenhuttl has well and truly turned this club around across the last few weeks, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. We’re at a point now where they can consider themselves a top half side, but beyond that, they may even start thinking about the possibility of a place in Europe. It really does depend on whether or not they can maintain this consistency, because as we all know, momentum is a tough thing to re-discover once it’s gone at this level.

Team News

Soares is set to miss out for the next three weeks through injury with Long and Vestergaard also picking up knocks during the week. With Ings being rested, he could well return to the starting XI for this cup tie.

Tottenham

We can only imagine the sort of conversations that are ongoing behind the scenes in North London right now between Jose Mourinho and Daniel Levy. This Spurs side is full of talent but even with one of the best managers in world football, they look lost. We’re not at all convinced that they can pull off a result in this game, but even if they do, they’ve got a long way to go before they can even consider a sustainable push for the top four.

Team News

Winks will join the ranks of the injured for Spurs alongside Kane who is out until April as well as Sissoko, Rose and Davies. As a result, Tanganga is likely to feature with Lamela also being a possible option.

Factors to Consider

• In their last meeting on New Year’s Day, Southampton beat Tottenham 1-0.
• Southampton have won four, drawn one and lost one of their last six games.
• Tottenham have won two, drawn two and lost two of their last six games.
• Southampton have scored 10 goals and conceded five in their last six games.
• Tottenham have scored five goals and conceded five in their last six games.

Conclusion

We saw this game just a matter of weeks ago and regardless of what competition it’s in, we can’t imagine the result is going to be all too different. Tottenham are scrambling for results right now whereas Southampton have been on a pretty impeccable run of form as of late. We think the hosts are going to push Spurs back, bully them into submission and pretty much walk into the fifth round of the FA Cup. At the start of the season, this paragraph would’ve sounded fairly bizarre.

Prediction: Southampton win

Best Odds: 15/8

Bookmaker: bet365