Tottenham Hotspur opened their 22/23 Premier League campaign at home to Southampton. Having ended the previous season on a high, claiming a place in the Champions League on the final matchday, the Tottenham fans had every reason to be excited for the new season to being. The addition of summer signings Yves Bissouma, Clement Lenglet, Djed Spence, Richarlison, Fraser Forster and Ivan Perisic also put Tottenham in a more fortunate position compared to last season.
Despite Tottenham’s summer spending, Antonio Conte decided against starting his summer signings and instead substituted them at appropriate times. Clement Lenglet and Yves Bissouma came on with four minutes of normal time remaining, with little impact as expected. Ivan Perisic was given a slightly longer run in the team, replacing Ryan Sessegnon at the 66-minute mark. The Croatian got involved and was nearly involved in a Tottenham goal.
After 12 minutes of play, Southampton opened the scoring with an amazing James Ward-Prowse volley. Just 9 minutes later, Ryan Sessegnon leveled the score with a fantastic assist from Dejan Kulusevski. 10 minutes later, Eric Dier scored his first goal since the closing match of the 18/19 season, with a header strong enough to beat Southampton’s Bazunu in goal. This concluded the first half, in which Tottenham lead 2-1.
Tottenham kicked on and scored more in the second half, and grew more dominant. After 63 minutes, a rather poor Mohammed Salisu own goal gave Tottenham a two-goal lead over Southampton and what seemed to be the three points wrapped up. Just two minutes later, Dejan Kulusevski concluded his man of the match performance with a goal, giving Tottenham a 4-1 lead over the Saints. The score remained the same for the remainder of the match despite chances at both ends of the pitch, to give Tottenham a 4-1 win on opening day, enough to push them to the top of the Premier League table.
Tottenham’s next fixture is away to London rivals Chelsea, one of the most difficult fixtures for Tottenham all season.
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