It is a case of square pegs in square holes needed this afternoon as Saints travel to North London for their first ever visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Most Saints fans would agree that the reason we got beaten by Bournemouth was that we played half of the defence out of position with Cedric on the left and Kevin Danso on the right.

At Portsmouth Ralph Hasenhuttl remedied that and we looked a more cohesive unit for that, although it should be noted that Pompey are far from a Premier League quality side.

But the lesson was learned from last weekend and hopefully will have been fully noted and this afternoon at Spurs we will see a stronger more disciplined Saints defence.

This will be a tough game despite Spurs turmoils and I have to say that I think that this could be the last time we see Mauricio Pochetino with a Spurs side, we will see him again this season away from home, I think he will be Manchester United manager by the time we play at Old Trafford next April.

But for today we need to be strong and resolute and able to sit deep and catch them on the break, very similar to our last visit to Old Trafford ironically enough.

Last season we only got a single point on the road to a Big Six side and we need to better than this season so today is a good chance to get at least a point on the board.

To do that I would say that this is our strongest line up.

Gunn

Cedric Bednarek, Danso, Bertrand

Boufal, Hojbjerg, Romeu JWP Bertrand

Ings

Subs

McCarthy, Adams, Valery, Yoshida, Long, Armstrong, Obafemi.

Some would say Yoshida in the back four, but we need to start playing Danso in the position we signed him to play and that wasn't as a full back, we need his strength and pace in the centre.

So a tough game this afternoon but one we can compete in and hopefully get a point or three.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters

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