Tottenham Hotspur began their 2022-23 Premier League campaign in emphatic fashion as they beat Southampton 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Despite going 0-1 down, thanks to a strike from James Ward-Prowse, the hosts scored four on the bounce to stage a comeback.
We’ve broken down all the key stats for you to digest, including;
* shot maps
* xT (expected threat)
* pass networks
* xG timelines
* defensive duels
* average positions and much more!
We also try to answer some questions for you with the visuals;
What was Tottenham Hotspur’s xG? How many shots did Southampton take?
To navigate the stats gallery, click on the numbers to move through the pages.
Antonio Conte opted for the tried and tested players in his starting XI, who lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation. None of the new signings started for Spurs.
Southampton chose the 5-3-2 formation as Gavin Bazunu, Romeo Lavia and Joe Aribo made their debuts for the club.
Spurs had 31 positional attacks in this match, and most of the threat came down the right and through the middle.
Most of the Saints’ attacks were through the right flank, even though the quality of threat was not that significant compared to the middle.
Tottenham hit seven out of 15 shots on target, giving them a shooting accuracy of 47%. The three goalscorers were Ryan Sessegnon, Eric Dier and Dejan Kulusevski (the other was an own goal by Mohamed Salisu).
Southampton’s goal came in the 12th minute, with James Ward-Prowse hitting a sublime volley. The team took nine shots and tested Hugo Lloris twice.
Spurs’ xG in this game was 1.87, meaning they outperformed the metric by more than twice by scoring four times.
Saints had an xG of 0.74 as Salisu headed one wide from close range in the third minute.
Tottenham completed 41% of their crosses, with nine of them reaching a teammate. Substitute Ivan Perišić completed both the crosses he attempted.
Five Southampton players completed one cross each. The team, as a whole, attempted 19 crosses.
Spurs made 47 out of 64 passes into the final third. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Ben Davies completed nine passes each into the final third.
Saints completed 58 of 70 passes into the attacking third, with Romeo Lavia making nine of them.
Tottenham Hotspur won 124 duels in this match out of the 218 they contested. Kulusevski, Davies, Romero and Sessegnon attempted 20 or more duels.
Southampton could win only 39.45% of the duels they contested. Joe Aribo, Kyle Walker-Peters and Moussa Djenepo competed in at least 25 duels.
Spurs made more than half the recoveries in the defensive third and slightly more than a third of these came in the midfield. Romero had 13, while Sessegnon and Emerson Royal also cracked double digits.
Like the hosts, three Saints players also had recoveries in double digits. These were Lavia, Jan Bednarek and Mohamed Salisu.
Tottenham Hotspur could not have wished for a better start to their 2022-23 season. They will hope to carry this momentum into their next game, which is a big one at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. Meanwhile, Southampton will need to put this bad result behind them and try to get their campaign off the mark when they host Leeds United in their next fixture.