Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Christmas Day may well be behind us but we all know that this is the real day for celebration if you are a football fan. The Boxing Day festival of football commences at lunchtime as Tottenham play host to Southampton at Wembley with Harry Kane looking to make history in a few hours time.
Saturday saw the England international score a hat-trick against Burnley and not only did it give Mauricio Pochettino’s men all three points it also meant that Kane equaled Alan Shearer’s 22 year old record in terms of Premier League goals in a calendar year.
Kane now finds himself on 36 goals in 2017 and not only that but should he score today he will equal Lionel Messi’s tally of 54 goals this year for both club and country, so it could be not just one but two records that Tottenham’s talisman ends up with come 2pm this afternoon.
Tottenham come into this game lying 5th in the Premier League table just a point behind that of Liverpool in 4th, it’s not quite where the club would have envisaged themselves to be at the halfway stage of the campaign but with Victor Wanyama and Toby Alderweireld still to return to the team there is certainly a belief that they can kick on from here.
And you get the feeling that Tottenham need to get a run of wins under their belt if they are to move up through the table, on a domestic front it has been a case of two steps forward and one step back this season with fifth place being a consequence of their stuttering form.
They did however give themselves some festive cheer though with the win over Burnley at Turf Moor, although the scoreline was 3-0 it could have and should have been a lot more as Spurs were guilty of missing a hatful of chances, thankfully though this was something that they were not punished for.
You cannot however say the same about Today’s opponents Southampton who were held by Huddersfield on Saturday, it is a result that just adds pressure to Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino with his club not winning a Premier League game in any of their last six attempts.
In that spell of fixtures they have only picked up three points from a possible 18 and they now find themselves three points clear of the drop zone in 13th, at the same time though they are only three points off the top half of the table so the glass may well be half full instead of half empty.
That said there is no doubting that Southampton could do with a win soon if not to just alleviate the pressure they are currently under and if they are to do so today then they will have to do so without the services of the in form Charlie Austin.
The England international was handed a three match ban after the Huddersfield game after being adjudged to have left the boot in on goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The Dane was left with bleeding from his nose as the former QPR forward protested his innocence.
At the time he would face no discipline in the form of a yellow or red card but unfortunately for him the Football Association saw the clash differently and have subsequently awarded the ban to Austin. However this is something of a moot point as Austin then went off late on with a hamstring injury so it is unlikely he would have featured in those three matches anyway.
Leading the lane in his place will more than likely be Manolo Gabbiadini who will be looking to rediscover the form he had when he joined the club just under a year ago, since the lightning quick start to life in Southampton he has failed to kick on and show what a goal threat he can be.
Southampton certainly need a goal threat today but not only that they will need to silence the threat of Harry Kane at the other end. With goal scoring accolade’s on the horizon there is no doubting he is going to up for this one and I think he will not only break Alan Shearer’s record but also deliver all three points for Tottenham. Home win.
