Conte resists Bentancur temptation
Antonio Conte resisted the temptation of changing up his Tottenham XI for the Premier League clash against Southampton following last weekend's 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Playing extremely well in the game against the south coast side to seal their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup, Conte also had a couple more positives to take from the victory with new Spurs signings Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur impressing in their time on the pitch.
With the Swedish international having a few runs down the right flank and teeing up his teammates for a couple of chances, the latter did catch the eye with a calm and composed display in the middle as he impressed with some classy play around his own box.
Bentancur may have been the one out of the two to make his case for a starting spot vs Southampton, yet Conte elected to keep him on the bench rather than handing him his first Premier League start.
He did, however, make an immediate impression within 30 seconds of his introduction against Saints with a stunning turn before later setting Spurs on the attack by spraying the ball out wide to Lucas Moura.
Saints target Tottenham's weak spot
Maybe looking like a win for Tottenham on paper as they looked to close in on the top four, it was anything but straightforward for Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Ralph Hasenhuttl's men were on top from the first whistle and Hugo Lloris was called into action numerous times to deny the visitors.
The vast majority of Saints' openings came down Tottenham's right flank, with Emerson Royal, Davinson Sanchez and Lucas the players operating down that side of the pitch.
With Mohamed Elyounoussi swinging in a cross from Saints' left that Che Adams almost converted early on, the south coast club kept targeting that area of the pitch as they looked to cause Spurs huge issues.
Netting the equaliser from the left after Armando Broja converted from close range after Saints had regained possession after a Ben Davies slip, Lloris was needed not long after as Stuart Armstrong connected with a cross from the same side.
However, their final two goals of the contest came from their right as James Ward-Prowse swung in two pinpoint balls for them to steal all three points.
Why Winks shouted at Sanchez
Starting the game extremely well before falling behind after Jan Bednarek's own goal, Saints really upped the pressure after Broja's strike and caused Tottenham big problems.
The Lilywhites just couldn't get out of their own half and they were incredibly lucky to go in level at 1-1 at the break.
Having already tested Lloris with a header, Armstrong had another go from outside the box but dragged his effort wide of the target.
The ex-Celtic man had plenty of time and space to get his effort off and Harry Winks made his feelings clear to Sanchez just after the ball trickled wide.
It was a shot that didn't trouble Lloris but the midfielder still turned to the Colombian and gestured that he should have slid in to block the effort rather than standing back and turning his body.
He wasn't happy at all.
Angry Conte
Conte was one of a number of unhappy people inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during the first half of the contest.
Starting off slowly and not getting a foothold in the game, Spurs just couldn't compete with the visitors at times and were guilty of wasting the ball as they piled even more pressure on themselves.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was guilty of sloppily losing the ball on a few occasions, with one poor pass straight to a Southampton player not going down well at all with Conte.
Turning back towards the bench after Spurs had turned over possession rather cheaply, the Italian could be seen bellowing in frustration as Saints regained the ball.
Touchline fracas and how Hasenhuttl celebrated
Things got rather heated on the touchline in the 70th minute when Son Heung-min netted to give Spurs a 2-1 lead.
Having seen Emerson climb above Broja to win a header, Spurs attacked down the right seconds later and it culminated with the South Korean converting Lucas' cross.
The Southampton striker was on the ground clutching his head at the time when Tottenham netted and it left Ralph Hasenhuttl and his bench absolutely incensed on the touchline.
Following a lot of shouting and pointing fingers between the two benches, with Conte heavily involved in the touchline fracas, the goal was given much to the anger of the visitors.
Hasenhuttl's anger turned to joy nine minutes later with Elyounoussi heading home Ward-Prowse's cross unmarked to spark wild scenes in the away end.
The Saints boss couldn't contain himself and duly ran on the pitch before turning and shouting in the direction of the Tottenham fans seated in the west stand as he released his pent-up anger.
Minutes later and the Austrian was back on the pitch when Adams turned the game on its head as he scored an identical header to Elyounoussi, with Hasenhuttl this time dashing a good ten yards onto the field of play before turning back to celebrate with his staff.
