After a two-day holiday in the New Year, Tottenham Hotspur ushered in the 22nd round of the league.

The opponent is the Southampton team, known as the "Saints".

Interestingly, during the draw for the FA Cup, Tottenham also drew Southampton. In other words, Tottenham have to play the "Saints" twice in four days. And coincidentally, Tottenham played away from home in both games.

Southampton have never been a strong team in the Premier League, and although they are not a relegation team like Sunderland, they have also spent years in relegation and relegation. They have been consistent this season, and they don't have to worry about relegation as they did in previous years.

All of this should perhaps be attributed to their team's top scorer, James Beatty. The 25-year-old England striker is fourth in the Premier League scorers list this season. Ahead of him are Arsenal and Manchester United's top scorers Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy, as well as Chen Xi, who has been hailed as the biggest discovery in the Premier League this season.

Bigty, a tall and point-grabbing player, is the quintessential English centre-forward and has already won the attention of big clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United.

In fact, Southampton have always had a tradition of producing top goalscorers. It was at Southampton that Shearer made his debut that year and began his career. Kevin Keegan also played for Southampton and now Beattie and they seem to have a legacy of goalscorers.

Somewhat similar to Chen Xi's status in the Tottenham team, James Beatty alone occupies most of Southampton's firepower.

Therefore, the first task of the Tottenham Hotspur backline in this game is to guard against Beatty, and if he can watch Beatty, Tottenham will basically have no problem winning the game.

Before the game, Hoddle also made arrangements for Beatty's defense.

At St Mary's, Hoddle fielded the team's full force. Because he knows that they are no longer qualified to make mistakes after being overtaken by Manchester United in the table.

Southampton, who are playing at home, will obviously not have any reservations, and they have also fielded the strongest squad.

Southampton's starting line-up (4-4-2):

Goalkeepers: Nemi Defenders: Dodd, Michael Svensson, Lundkewan, BridgeMidfielders: Fernandes, Anders Svensson, Marsden, DrapeForwards: Omerod, BeattyCompared with James Beatty, Chen Xi is more impressed by Southampton's left-back Bridge. It's not because of how famous the England international is on the pitch, in fact, when Bridges became famous, Chen Xi didn't pay much attention to football. The reason why I know Bridge is because in the famous "Friends of the Wife", this guy is the unlucky guy who was cuckolded by Terry.

When the two teams shook hands, Chen Xi found that Bridge, who was only 22 years old, had a pleated face in his thirties and forties, and he couldn't help but think with a bad taste, no wonder this guy was cuckolded.

Once the game began, Southampton launched a ferocious attack to the cheers of 30,000 home fans.

In the fifth minute, Beattie almost broke through the door guarded by Keller. He received a cross from Fernandes on the right and struck a powerful header.

Fortunately, Keller was very focused and blocked the ball with a side pounce!

This also made the Tottenham players break out in a cold sweat, and Ledley King had to raise his spirit to deal with this guy.

Next, Southampton's offensive continued unabated, but it was Tottenham Hotspur who scored first!

Redknapp made a long pass to the left, and Chen Xi dribbled the ball past Southampton right-back Dodd at high speed, and passed the ball to the middle of the penalty area after getting down!

Sheringham, who returned from injury, flanked the spot and scored with a header. 1 to 0!

At this time, only ten minutes of the first half of the game passed!

The early goal was clearly a mess for Southampton. They were originally going to attack for a while at the beginning, and then they shrank back to counterattack, and in the next game, they could only be forced to continue attacking.

However, when their striker James Beatty is seen dead, their attack will hardly pose a threat to Tottenham. Instead, Tottenham scored another goal before the end of the first half!

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Southampton team's big pressure, Chen Xi received the ball in the midfield, and directly sent a long ball to the front, Sheringham's header rubbed back, and Robbie Keane inserted at high speed to get a single opportunity, and the Irish shooter naturally did not miss this good opportunity, and he easily pushed the shot. Tottenham also went into the dressing room with a 2-0 scoreline.

Just when the Spurs fans who came with the team thought that the team was about to achieve a comfortable victory, the Southampton team suddenly came to an end in the second half.

As soon as the game began, James Beatty, who had been active in the penalty area before, suddenly pulled back to the front of the penalty area, and after receiving the ball and turning, he directly volleyed vigorously!

Beatty's retreat as a centre-forward was clearly a surprise to Tottenham. And the shot was powerful and sharp, and even if Keller made a full save, he still couldn't stop the ball from drilling into the goal!

1-2, the home team pulled a goal back. Beattie's goal also brought the St Mary's Stadium back to life.

For the rest of the day, James Beatty continued to have a lot of range of motion, and he could be seen both inside and outside the box. This undoubtedly increases the difficulty of Ledley King's defense!

James Beatty created a number of chances in quick succession, but it was either a fraction of a second on his own or a brave Keller to save the ball.

Southampton's morale has not been affected by this, their attack is still full of firepower, and the home fans have not stopped cheering them on!

However, in the second half of the game, almost half an hour into the game, Chen Xi scored directly with a wonderful free kick to shut up the "saints" in the stands!

A direct free kick 30 meters away from the goal, after Chen Xi vigorously helped to run, the ball drawn out with his right foot flew over the top of the human wall like a cannonball, and then drilled into the upper left corner of the goal before the opponent's goalkeeper saved!

3-1, although there are still more than ten minutes to go, Tottenham Hotspur has basically sealed the win!

The onslaught was unsuccessful, but the opponent scored another goal, which was obviously a very big blow to Southampton. Next, although their offensive was still active, it lacked the momentum of the previous one.

The score of 3-1 was maintained until the end. Tottenham managed to get three points!

However, on the other pitch, Manchester United also won 2-1 against the Black Cats Sunderland to continue their one-point lead.

After winning this league, Chen Xi and his teammates did not return to London, but chose to stay in Southampton. Because there is still an FA Cup to play in three days!

Hoddle is clearly too lazy to go back to London and bring another team with a bench plus a reserve team to feel Southampton again. Instead, we are ready to pick up the momentum we just won, and make persistent efforts to win this FA Cup!

In the intervening few days, Chen Xi took the opportunity to visit the historic city of Southampton.

The city of Southampton has a rich historical and cultural heritage, and they even retain some of their medieval walls. As a harbour city, they also have a nice view of the sea. It's a pity that it's winter now, otherwise Chen Xi would have been able to take the opportunity to enjoy the sun and sand.

Three days later, both teams were in the same stadium and almost fielded the same team from the previous round.

Hoddle only rotated Sheringham, who had just recovered from injury, with Iverson in the same position as in the previous game!

With the meeting three days ago, in this game, the two teams had less temptation, and they really fought together at the beginning!

Southampton, who had been beaten in the league three days ago, are clearly desperate to get their revenge in this game!

It didn't take long for James Beatty to give Southampton the lead with his trademark header!

However, the Southampton fans had not finished singing the song of celebration, and in the first attack after the restart of the game, Chen Xi helped Tottenham equalize with a powerful long-range shot from 30 meters away!

At this time, it was less than two minutes since Beattie's goal, and it included time for Southampton to celebrate!

After scoring the goal, Chen Xi did not forget to rush to the sidelines and made a closed gesture to provoke the home fans. His approach naturally ushered in a boo for him, but Chen Xi had a lot of fun, because letting his fans cheer and shut up the opponent's fans has always been his biggest hobby on the court!

Chen Xi's quick response obviously suppressed Southampton's arrogance, and at the same time boosted the team's morale!

In the next half-hour of the first half, Tottenham scored two more goals to extend the score to 3-1.

This undoubtedly extinguished the flames of revenge of the Southampton team, and made the "Saints" clearly understand the difference in strength between the two teams!

In the second half, after a little unsuccessful resistance, the Southampton team disarmed, and the manager directly replaced three main players, including Beatty, to prepare for the next round of the league.

Hoddle also took the opportunity to replace three main players. After all, Tottenham have a crucial Carabao Cup semi-final next week!

Seeing this situation, the home fans in the stands were also disappointed and chose to leave the stadium early.

As a result, the game was reduced to garbage time for nearly half an hour in the second half. However, some of the substitutes for both teams played hard.

Both sides scored another goal each in the following period, and the score was finally locked at 4-2.

Tottenham Hotspur knocked down the "Saints" twice in three days. This also allowed the team to successfully qualify for the next round of the FA Cup, and continue to maintain the momentum on all fronts.

(To be continued)