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MOTD- Southampton 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur

By on December 22, 2013

After Emmanuel Adebayor netted the winner for Tottenham Hotspur and his second goal on the night, it was almost impossible to see how he was utterly ignored by his former manager Andre Villas-Boas.  On fine form, the Togo international bagged his third goal in less than a week under caretaker manager Tim Sherwood, bringing a team in shambles their first win since a dreadful 5-0 loss to Liverpool and a vital three points and keep them above Southampton and surprisingly, Manchester United, yet this make you wonder what in the world was going on behind the scenes when Villas-Boas was in charge.

However now that the Portuguese manager has left White Hart Lane the festivities began for both Tottenham and Adebayor today, and any personal issues have been rid of. The enthralling 3-2 win not only saw Tottenham come back from behind but saw Southampton fail to find a league win in the last eight matches, even though they started the match brilliantly.  Attacking football from the Saints saw Tottenham forced back, and after thirteen minutes concede the first goal of the match when Danny Fox played it into Adam Lallana twenty-five yards out from goal.  The Englishman turned with the ball before making space for a shot by tapping it past Vlad Chiriches and smacking a rather weak, but accurate bobbling effort into past Hugo Lloris into the bottom corner of the net.  Jay Rodriguez then curled a shot just over the crossbar but Tottenham somehow found an unexpected equalizer in the twenty-fifth minute.  Adebayor played the ball out to Roberto Soldado on the left, and although the ball forced the Spaniard wide, the return cross beautifully soared to the far post where Adebayor found space to smash an acrobatic volley into the roof of the net in mid-air.

Nine minutes later Gylfi Sigurdsson had his low ten-yard effort from Kyle Walker’s cross deflected just wide as Spurs began to find some momentum.  That momentum continued as the match skipped into the second half, with an own goal from Jos Hooiveld completing the turnaround for the visitors in the six minutes into the second period.  Christian Eriksen slipped the ball into the overlapping run of Danny Rose down he left side of the box for the starlet to cut it back into the six yard box, where Hooiveld accidentally shuffled under Southampton goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga the back of the net.

Yet Southampton immediately responded when Jack Cork curled a through ball into the run of Lallana down the right side of the box.  The midfielder took Lloris off his line to make the intervention but before the Frenchman could get there Lallana squared it to Rickie Lambert on the top of the box for the forward to pass in one of the easiest goals he’ll ever score.  Only two minutes later Adebayor nearly restored Tottenham’s lead as he was put clean through on goal, only to have his attempted chip to be blocked by the onrushing Gazzaniga.  But Adebayor got his second goal moments later when he attached to the ball following a scramble on the right side of the Southampton box and placed it into the bottom corner from six yards to make it 3-2.  Soldado then volleyed just over the bar before turning Erik Lamela’s cross over, but the ball just wouldn’t fall into the back of the net to make it safe for Tottenham, and Southampton nearly scored a late equalizer as Lambert volleyed into the ground and inches over the bar from Lloris’ punch.  Three minutes later the final whistle blew, leaving Southampton in desperate need of a win and Tottenham lucky to get one.
Man of the Match: Emmanuel Adebayor

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.