Tottenham V Southampton at White Hart Lane: LIVE

04 May 2013 18:01

Tottenham V Southampton - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Tottenham will give a fitness test to Mousa Dembele (hamstring) before deciding whether to include the midfielder in the squad for their home game against Southampton.

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor (knee) and midfielder Jake Livermore (hamstring) are available they sat out the 2-2 draw at Wigan last week.

Midfielder Sandro (knee) and defensive duo Younes Kaboul (thigh) and William Gallas (calf) are unavailable.

Gareth Bale will forget any emotional attachment he has with the Saints and instead concentrate on making his 200th Tottenham appearance a winning one.

Bale has enjoyed the most successful few days of his career this week, picking up a hat-trick of awards in recognition of the 24 goals he has scored for Spurs this term.

The 23-year-old added the Football Writers' Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year award to his trophy cabinet just four days after he won Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year at the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Awards.

He may have just become the only player other than Cristiano Ronaldo to pick up the prestigious treble in the same season, but the Welshman's mind is firmly focused on the visit of his former club Southampton to White Hart Lane tomorrow.

Bale enjoyed a meteoric rise through the youth ranks at Saints' famed academy, but he is determined to cast aside any emotion he feels towards the club so he can mark the landmark occasion with a vital win that will boost Tottenham's Champions League qualification bid.

"It's obviously great to get the 200 games under your belt and to make it against Southampton makes it even more special," Bale told Spurs TV Online.

"Hopefully I can it even more special with a win.

"They mean a lot to me, that club. I was there from nine-years-old until I was 17 so it's a club close to my heart and I still have a lot of friends down there.

"But no matter who the opposition is we need to win and we need to put ourselves right in contention."

Gaston Ramirez and Danny Fox will both miss out for Southampton.

The duo serve the first of their three-match bans at White Hart Lane, having both been sent off in last weekend's heavy home defeat to West Brom.

There is some good news, though, as Luke Shaw looks set to feature after an ankle injury.

Mauricio Pochettino believes Bale is an "amazing player" and one which would not have left Southampton under the current regime.

"He is a very decisive player - an amazing player because of his speed, strength and goalscoring abilities," the Southampton manager said.

"He has shown that throughout the season this year so I rate him very highly.

"Our collective game needs to be very strong tomorrow. We can't just focus on Gareth Bale - there are other players in that team that can raise their game.

"In a collective sense, we need to be very focused and mentally ready as we need to be in every single game that we play in the Premier League.

"We always need to be mentally focused as you never know."



Source: DSG