Saints welcome Tottenham Hotspur to St Mary’s tomorrow in their final game before a three-week break.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side head into the fixture on the back of a 3-2 defeat to Manchester United, but with plenty of confidence, given their performance at Old Trafford.
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino will be returning to his former club; however, he won’t be taking his spot in the dugout.
The Argentinian has been handed a two-game suspension and £10,000 fine by the Football Association for his actions following Spurs’ defeat to Burnley.
It’s a minor setback for the north London team, but the possible return of Dele Alli will more than likely make up for Pochettino’s absence from the sideline.
As opposed to Spurs, who had a Champions League fixture on Tuesday night, Saints have had a week to prepare for this match.
Hasenhuttl’s squad will be aiming to keep themselves out of the relegation zone heading into the three-week layoff.
And a surprise victory, which isn’t totally inconceivable, would almost certainly hammer another nail into Cardiff’s relegation coffin.
Saints’ Premier League record against Spurs:
P39 W11 D6 L22
Tottenham’s Premier League form this season:
P29 W20 D1 L8
Who has been the opposition’s key player this campaign?
It’s proved to be another stellar season for Tottenham and England ace Harry Kane.
The striker, who has recently returned from injury, is still in the mix to end up as the Premier League’s top goalscorer this season.
Kane, 25, has netted 16 times this season, which is only two behind Manchester City’s Argentinian star Sergio Aguero.
Spurs’ talisman proved his exceptional quality again by hitting the winner in their 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
A closer look at Mauricio Pochettino:
Pochettino won’t need much of an introduction to Saints fans.
The club’s former boss arrived at St Mary’s in January 2013, following the dismissal of Nigel Adkins.
In his only full season with Saints, he took them to an eighth-place finish in the Premier League, which was the record until Ronald Koeman guided them to sixth.
He left St Mary’s in the summer of 2014 to join Spurs.
Pochettino has been instrumental in taking Tottenham to the higher echelons of English football, with them becoming an established top-four side.
He’s on the verge of guiding them into the new White Hart Lane, which has consistently been delayed throughout the season.
However, Pochettino is constantly linked with the top jobs when there is a vacancy to be filled.
The Argentinean is always brought up in the discussions of a potential Real Madrid manager and, most recently, was the favourite to land the Manchester United job until Ole Gunnar Solskjaer surprised everyone with the impact he’s having.
One criticism that is often levelled at Pochettino is his failure to win a trophy with the excellent Spurs team he has assembled and developed.
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