Mauricio Pochettino takes his Tottenham Hotspur side to his former home on Saturday afternoon to face Southampton at St Mary's.

Both teams are looking to bounce back after suffering defeat last weekend, with the Saints in especially desperate form of late.

Southampton

Ronald Koeman's side threatened to surprisingly finish in the top four for much of last season, but a recent slide this term means that they are now further away from the Champions League places than the relegation zone.

The Saints are winless in five in all competitions after a run of eight games unbeaten, managing just one point from the last 12 available in the top flight and also getting spanked 6-1 by Liverpool in the last eight of the Capital One Cup.

That solitary point picked up in the last month was in by far the easiest fixture of the lot when they failed to beat rockbottom Aston Villa at home.

Last weekend they travelled to Crystal Palace, who are very much this season's Southampton, and went down 1-0 to Yohan Cabaye's first-half strike.

Paulo Gazzaniga, on his first appearance of the season, was the busier of the two goalkeepers, but Koeman's men almost nicked a draw when Shane Long squandered a late opening.

It is hard to see the Saints' slump stopping anytime soon with their next two fixtures against the North London duo of Spurs and Arsenal, before they travel to West Ham United a week on Monday - all three sides are above Southampton in the table.

At home, the South Coast side have lost just one of their last five in the league, but they are without a win in their last three in all competitions having lost to Stoke and Liverpool and drawn with Villa.

Recent Premier League form: WWLLDL
Recent form (all competitions): WLLLDL

Spurs

Spurs started the season with a narrow defeat at Manchester United, but then went on a 14-match unbeaten run before finally losing again in the league at the hands of Newcastle United last Sunday.

The streak came to an end in heartbreaking circumstances as Ayoze Perez's volley snuck past Hugo Lloris's defences in injury time after Aleksandar Mitrovic had pulled Newcastle level following Eric Dier's opener at White Hart Lane.

The defeat means that Spurs have lost a league-high 11 points from winning positions this season and also denied them a place in the top four ahead of United.

It is now just one win in five league games for Pochettino's men and with three of their next four fixtures over the festive period away at Southampton, Watford and Everton, a Christmas charge into the top four might be out of reach.

Spurs have not lost away from home in the league since that opening-day defeat at Old Trafford, although four of the six matches since then, including three of the last four, have all finished as draws.

Form on the pitch is far from perfect, then, but there was some positive news earlier this week when the club's plans for a new 61,000-seater stadium were given the go-ahead by the local council.

Recent Premier League form: WDWDDL
Recent form (all competitions): WWDDWL

Team News

Graziano Pelle scored a brace in a 2-2 draw when these two last met in April, and he will hope to return to the starting lineup after being dropped to the bench for last week's match at Palace.

Dusan Tadic could also come back into the fold if Koeman reverts back to a 4-3-2-1 formation, while in goal Gazzaniga is likely to continue with Maarten Stekelenburg still struggling with a toe injury.

Pochettino, meanwhile, will make a late decision on Moussa Dembele's fitness ahead of the trip to St Mary's.

The Belgian missed the defeat to Newcastle United with a stomach bug but has returned to training and could replace Tom Carroll in the starting lineup.

Southampton possible starting lineup:
Gazzaniga; Cedric, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand; Wanyama, Romeu, Davis; Tadic, Mane; Pelle

Spurs possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier, Dembele; Lamela, Alli, Eriksen; Kane

Head To Head

Spurs are unbeaten in their last six Premier League games against Southampton, winning five of those.

Southampton have taken the lead in three of their last four Premier League matches against the North London side, but not gone on to win any of those games, losing two and drawing one.

Video Preview

Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:

We say: Southampton 1-1 Spurs

Both teams have been far from their best in recent weeks, so it could be a cautious, we-must-not-lose-this approach from both managers.