Step by step, but the Tottenham is gradually moving up the rankings. After three draws and two defeats they finally Spurs they find a way to shake off the bad thoughts and fully overwhelm the Southampton for 5-0, complete with a clean sheet. Ange Postecogloutechnician in chief, spoke thus to TNT Sports: “The players were exceptional. A difficult European match awaited us on Thursday evening. We had 10 first team players unavailable tonight and the boys came out on the pitch with all this energy. We had to break the deadlock quickly, because we knew we would get tired. We ask a lot of our kids and the quality and energy shown was exceptional.”
On scoring so early: “In the last few games we have had great opportunities in the early stages and if we had exploited them we would have put pressure on the opponent. Before the match I told the boys to be ready, to start strong straight away. Great effort from Spence and great finish from Maddison.”
About Djed Spence: “He had to wait a bit of time, but to be honest, every time he played he interpreted the match well. We weren’t able to get him to play much because full-back is one of the roles where we are a bit covered, but we needed him to come in and play at a good level and he did that. It’s a credit to him.”
On Destiny Ugodie’s injury: “He heard something, but wanted to continue. We can’t take any risks at the moment. I don’t think it’s anything serious.”
On the importance of tonight’s victory: “It helps. Players just want to feel good and be rewarded for their efforts. We can’t rest or rotate, and we want them to feel good. Tonight they got their reward and we will recover and prepare for the big game on Thursday.”
Saturday 14 December
Arsenal – Everton 0-0
Liverpool – Fulham
Newcastle – Leicester 4-0
Wolverhampton – Ipswich 1-2
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa
Sunday 15 December
Brighton 1-3 Crystal Palace
Manchester City – Manchester United 1-2
Chelsea 2-1 Brentford
Southampton – Tottenham 0-5
Monday 16 December
Bournemouth – West Ham
Classification
Liverpool 36
Chelsea 34
Arsenal 30
Manchester City 27
Nottingham Forest 28
Aston Villa 25
Brighton 24
Bournemouth 24
Fulham 24
Tottenham 23
Brentford 23
Newcastle 23
Manchester United 22
West Ham 18
Crystal Palace 16
Everton 15
Leicester 14
Ipswich 12
Wolverhampton 9
Southampton 5