Southampton 1-1 Tottenham: Spurs concede late equalizer to force FA Cup replay

It was honors even at St. Mary’s Stadium in the FA Cup on Saturday. Tottenham Hotspur went up thanks to Son Heung-Min’s low-struck goal in the second half, but conceded a late goal to Sofiane Boufal and ended up drawing Southampton 1-1 in the FA Cup. The two sides will now play a replay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in ten days time.

There were a couple of surprises in the starting lineup. New signing Gedson Fernandes made his first Tottenham Hotspur in attacking midfield, while Harry Winks was back in the lineup despite taking a heavy knock to his ankle in the mid-week win over Norwich. Japhet Tanganga came back into the lineup, again at left back, and Davinson Sanchez started at CB alongside Toby Alderweireld. Hugo Lloris started his second straight match after returning from elbow surgery. Tanguy Ndombele started on the bench, and while Christian Eriksen traveled with the side, he was not in the match day 18.

First Half

1’ — KICK-OFF! Spurs opening in what feels like a 4-3-3 in the early stages of this match. Gedson in a pivot with Winks. It’s an open match, with both sides pushing forward.

8’ — Bednarak takes out Lo Celso on the sideline; no yellow card given. Lo Celso looks to be okay.

9’ — Close! Big opportunity for Spurs — Lucas, Dele and Son combine for a shot, but Sonny’s attempt goes agonizingly wide of the post.

13’ — Dele bursts through on goal but his touch is a tad heavy and takes the ball right into the hands of Gunn

22’ — Pretty even affair here at St. Mary’s. Spurs set up to absorb pressure, but is getting some love on the counter attack going forward. Hasn’t led to too many shots for either side thus far.

27’ — GOAL GIO LO CELSO... but it’s called back. Gio’s shot clips the heel of Sonny and goes into the net, but it’s called back after a VAR check since Sonny is in an offside position.

33’ — Ugh, another chance. Gio feeds dele in midfield, who finds Lucas Moura in the box. Angus Gunn just gets a boot on Lucas’ shot, and it goes out for a corner.

35’ — #TangGang to the rescue! Ings had a look at an open goal but Tanganga is there to head the ball off the line.

41’ — Injury for Soton. Stuart Armstrong looks like he did his hammy, and he’s limping off the pitch. Moussa Djenepo comes on as his replacement.

HALFTIME — A pretty even first half, all things considered, but Spurs have had the better of the few chances in this first half. Spurs unlucky not to score after Lo Celso’s shot clips the heels of Sonny who was in an offside position.

Second Half

No changes for either side at the half.

49’ — Free kick to Spurs right at the edge of the area. Lucas takes it and curls it around the wall, but Angus Gunn collects it easily.

53’ — Nearly a goal for Soton. Obafemi flashes a ball right across the face of goal, and Ings gets a boot to the ball, but it dribbles just wide of the post.

56’ — First sub for Spurs! Erik Lamela comes on for Gedson Fernandes, who had a pretty disappointing match in midfield.

57’ — GOAL!!! IT’S SONNY! Gio Lo Celso with a fantastic dribble out of Spurs’ half and finds Lamela, who feeds Sonny on the left side. Sonny with a low shot that goes in just past the outstretched fingers of Gunn. There was an extended VAR check to see if Dele fouled Danso away from the ball, but the goal stands! 1-0 Spurs!

62’ — Nearly a second! Gio puts a lovely chip in to Sonny over the Saints defense, but Sonny fires it over the bar. Giovani Lo Celso is amazing.

71’ — Second sub for Soton — Sofiane Boufal for Kevin Danso, as Ralph Hassenhuttl shakes up his tactics down a goal.

74’ — The final sub for Soton as Che Adams comes on for Michael Obafemi.

75’ — Davison Sanchez has had a couple of missed touches in this match. He whiffed on a Southampton cross in the first half and here has a weird deflection that nearly leads to an Ings goal.

77’ — Yellow card for Bertram after he basically karate-chops Lo Celso in the throat while contesting a header.

84’ — Close to an equalizer from Southampton. Redmond fires a cross into the box, Ings has a free header at Spurs’ goal, but he puts it wide.

87’ — Goal Southampton. Killer. Sofiane Boufal fires home and was wide open in the box off of a cross from Ings. Good look, good finish. Tie game.

88’ — Sub for Spurs — Eric Dier comes on for Dele Alli.

92’ — Free kick to Spurs just outside the box, but Lo Celso makes a hash of the attempt, and it’s nowhere close to the goal.

94’ — Bertram holds back Lamela on a break. Foul called, but that should be his second yellow. Weak by the official.

FULL TIME — Ugh. Spurs concede a late goal and we’ll have a replay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Final score is 1-1.

Reactions:

• Holy moly, how good is Gio Lo Celso? He flat out ran the show out there, showing some incredible dribbling ability in midfield, and equally good passing. He’s every bit as good as we thought he’d be. This is Gio’s team now.
• Tottenham had a fantastic first half and a less fantastic second half. Had Spurs been a little more clinical they could’ve killed this game off much earlier.
• Very disappointing outing from Gedson. He looked like he didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to be doing out there. At one point he had the fewest touches of any Tottenham player, and that included Hugo.
• Sanchez had another weird outing, whiffing on two clearances that led to half-chances for Soton.
• Serge Aurier had another good match but was responsible for losing Ings in the buildup to Southampton’s goal.
• Again, Jose Mourinho didn’t use all of his subs, which was especially baffling considering that Spurs looked gassed down the stretch in this match.
• A replay isn’t the worst outcome, but it’s disappointing that Spurs couldn’t finish things out here on the road.