Title challengers Liverpool could only force an equaliser against Fulham on Saturday, opening their Premier League season, with Chelsea and Tottenham making winning starts in the new campaign. There was much optimism inside the Tottenham Hotspur stadium following a hectic period of transfer activity, with Spurs fans looking ahead to their first Premier League game at their home ground in almost three years.
Tottenham kicked off their new Premier League campaign with a comfortable 4-1 domestic victory against Southampton, although the visitors did go out with a surprising lead. Tottenham came from one goal down to begin their Premier League campaign with a comfortable win at home. The 4-1 victory was Tottenham’s most significant victory on the opening day of the league campaign since August 1986, when they beat Aston Villa 3-0. Antonio Conte decided that it was common sense to start none of his new summer signings, as his Tottenham team began the new Premier League campaign with a comfortable 4-1 win at home against Southampton.
Spurs, however, started brightly against a Southampton side widely predicted for relegation this term. When asked last week about the contenders that are most likely to challenge Manchester City and Liverpool for England’s premier league title this season, plenty of experts named Tottenham Hotspur, and they got off to a good start Saturday beating Southampton in north London. After a summer of expectations and erratic performances, the Spurs’ start to the season against Southampton at home looks strikingly familiar. Spurs started the campaign with a victory that justified the optimism they had before the campaign. However, it came against a Saints team that many predicted would struggle.
That hope has been short-lived for Ralph Hasenhuttls team, which, in addition to having the worst opening-day record of any currently playing Premier League team, finished the previous campaign on four consecutive losses, doing little to cure Spurs of this Tottenham hangover. Southampton took an unexpected lead in the 12th minute with James Ward-Prowse’s brilliant diving header. Still, his Tottenham team drew level after only nine minutes when Ryan Sessegnon scored Spurs’ first Premier League goal from the back post. Tottenham has one of Europe’s top offensive trios in Son Heung-min, Harry Kane, and Dejan Kulusevski, and because all three players can contribute to goals and score them, no defence can ever feel safe and secure.
Teams should be concerned about playing Tottenham Hotspur, as Antonio Conte wished. The Italian could always make alterations to an equally potent starting lineup, and he wanted a more significant Spurs and a bench that other teams watched at.