Soccer

Premier League round-up: Spurs heap more misery on Saints

Meanwhile, Leicester salvaged a draw from Fulham while Everton dropped more points

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-Min (C) scores his team’s third goal during the Premier League win over Southampton. Photo: Ian Kington/Getty Images

Wed Dec 5 2018 - 22:09

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Southampton 1

Ralph Hasenhuttl found out the hard way just how tough his assignment at Southampton will be as he watched Tottenham earn a 3-1 win at Wembley.

The Austrian was named as Mark Hughes’ successor earlier in the day and took a watching brief at the national stadium, but for the first hour it was painful viewing.

Spurs bounced back from their north London derby disappointment with a trouble-free three points, with Harry Kane, Lucas Moura and Son Heung-min grabbing the goals.

READ MORE

Hasenhuttl will take over from interim Kelvin Davis, who becomes the new manager’s number two, and begins the task of guiding the Saints out of the bottom three, though he will have been encouraged by the final 30 minutes as they were the better side and got a late consolation through Charlie Austin.

Fulham 1 Leicester 1

Claudio Ranieri was denied a memorable victory over Leicester when his former team recovered from a goal down to secure a 1-1 draw at Fulham.

Leicester City’s James Maddison celebrates his team’s goal. Photo: Steve Paston/PA Wire

The manager had been out of the Premier League for approaching two years since his sacking by Leicester, who he remarkably inspired to the title in 2016, when last month Fulham recruited him to lead them to safety following a troubled start to the season.

His influence has already been felt and he was on course to take them out of the relegation zone when Aboubakar Kamara gave the hosts a first-half lead.

The classy James Maddison then scored during the second half, 16 minutes from time, as both teams wasted further chances, instead keeping Fulham bottom of the league.

Everton 1 Newcastle United 1

Everton were forced to settle for a point as Newcastle dug in to claim a creditable 1-1 draw at Goodison Park.

Richarlison equalises for Everton. Photo: Andrew Yates/Reuters

Everton forward Richarlison cancelled out Salomon Rondon’s early strike for the visitors but the hosts paid the price for spurning further gilt-edged chances before the break.

Gylfi Sigurdsson and Cenk Tosun both looked certain to score before being denied by Federico Fernandez and Martin Dubravka respectively.

Everton’s pace dropped in the second period as Newcastle sat deep to protect a point and inch a little further away from the Premier League’s bottom three.

Having heard yet more rumours of a potential takeover in the past couple of days, the visiting fans at least had something tangible to take home.