Tottenham Hotspur are in action for the fifth Sunday running as they welcome Southampton to White Hart Lane, aiming to strengthen their hold on second place in the Premier League table.

Spurs now have just a handful of fixtures remaining at their famous home and are looking to go out in style, having racked up a club-record run of nine league wins in a row there.

Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino faces off against one of his former teams again this weekend with the intention of prolonging his current side's fine winning streak in North London, which has helped them into second place and through to the last four of the FA Cup.

The 6-0 thumping of Millwall here last time out did come at a cost, however, as top-scoring striker Harry Kane picked up an ankle injury - similar to the one sustained earlier in the campaign - that will likely keep him out for the vast majority of the season.

To put Kane's importance to Tottenham into some perspective, they have won three and found the net just eight times in nine fixtures without the Englishman, who had scored three hat-tricks already this calendar year prior to being struck down by injury.

Pochettino will feel that his group of players are now in a more confident mood compared to earlier this term, when drawing three in a row prior to Kane's goalscoring return in the North London derby against Arsenal - another draw - and the ex-Espanyol chief has also tweaked his system slightly since then, too.

Spurs must now prove that they are not reliant on the division's joint-leading top scorer when Southampton visit White Hart Lane this weekend, as they look to take their winning league form on home soil into double figures, last failing to pick up maximum points in a 1-1 draw with Leicester City during that aforementioned run without Kane in the side five months ago.

The Lilywhites last went without defeat across their opening 14 home games to a top-flight season in 1964-65, conceding just seven goals across those fixtures to ensure that they remain at the top of the defensive charts, alongside league leaders Chelsea with 20 shipped all term at home and away.

Only once before in their proud top-flight history have Tottenham had a better overall record at this stage of a season, in fact - 1960-61, when going all the way and lifting the title for the last time. Any hopes of doing likewise this term are surely all but over, with Chelsea recently opening up a 10-point lead at the summit.

Spurs will instead be aiming for a Premier League-high finish of second place, while also ending their wait for silverware in the FA Cup after booking their spot in the semi-finals with their resounding win over Millwall last weekend.

That victory made it three on the spin for Pochettino's men, who will now be looking to match the run of seven in a row set between December and February in all competitions to put memories of last season's late collapse behind them for good.

Recent form in Premier League: DDWLWW
Recent form (all competitions): LWDWWW

Southampton

Southampton make the trip north to the English capital for the third time in the space of three weeks sitting 10th in the table, perfectly summing up the mediocrity of their league campaign thus far under Claude Puel.

The Saints had a memorable run to the final of the EFL Cup to keep supporters gripped, only seeing their hopes of a first major honour in 41 years ended cruelly late on by Manchester United after a valiant effort to get back into the match.

All focus is now on the top flight, then, and back-to-back wins either side of that 3-2 loss at Wembley Stadium have left Southampton exactly midway in the division, 33 points from 26 games seeing them simply jostling for position in the latter stages of the campaign.

Puel admitted ahead of Sunday's game that he has found it tough keeping his players motivated due to the stop-start nature of their season, having played just three times in the league since the end of January to lose ground on those around them.

The south coast side could move to within one point of eighth-placed West Bromwich Albion should they win their two games in hand after the international break, but they have not previously racked up more than two wins in a row under their softly-spoken boss.

That is something the Saints could put right this weekend, however, thanks to those successive away wins over Watford and Sunderland in the past month, scoring four goals in both of those games after being given a fresh burst of attacking life by January recruit Manolo Gabbiadini.

Southampton last scored four goals in three successive matches in December 1980 - a run that includes a 4-4 draw against Spurs at White Hart Lane - but star man Gabbiadini has six in four since joining and could make some history should he net once again in North London.

The Italian is aiming to become the third player in Premier League history to score in each of his first four matches, on top of bagging a brace in the cup final defeat to Man United, which would help to keep the Saints' season ticking along for a little while longer yet.

Recent form in Premier League: LWLLWW
Recent form (all competitions): LLLWLW

Team News

Pochettino is 'confident' that his side will be able to cope without Kane for potentially the next six weeks or so, with Son Heung-min - and not like-for-like replacement Vincent Janssen - expected to get the nod to replace him up top following his hat-trick against Millwall.

Full-back Danny Rose and creative midfielder Erik Lamela are the other high-profile absentees for Spurs, the latter of whom still has no return in sight following what can best be described as a bizarre long-term layoff.

There are also doubts over Kyle Walker and Victor Wanyama, but Mousa Dembele is back in midfield contention after missing out on the FA Cup sixth-round tie with the Lions through injury.

In terms of the visitors, Puel has no fresh injury concerns of note and could therefore stick with the same XI that saw off Watford a fortnight ago.

Virgil van Dijk and Charlie Austin are the two key players missing, though Gabbiadini is fit and firing and will likely start just off Dusan Tadic, while James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond could also feature in attack on the back of their England call-ups on Thursday.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Dier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Walker, Wanyama, Dembele, Davies; Ali, Eriksen; Son

Southampton possible starting lineup:
Forster; Soares, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand; Romeu, Davis; Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Redmond; Gabbiadini

Head To Head

Southampton have defeated Tottenham on just one occasion in their last nine Premier League meetings - a 2-1 triumph at White Hart Lane at the tail end of last season.

That victory, coming at a time when Spurs had taken their foot off the gas after missing out on the title, was just their third in 17 visits to this soon-to-be-demolished ground during the Premier League era.

The Saints have kept one shutout in their last 25 away league games against the Lilywhites, meanwhile, and they also conceded four in the reverse fixture between the two sides at St Mary's Stadium in December.

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Southampton

Southampton do not boast the most impressive of records in this part of North London, but they have managed to find the net four times in both of their last two league outings and are well on track to finishing in the top half once again. Momentum is proving tough to come by for the Saints at the minute, and that will not be helped by defeat this weekend as Spurs make it 10 home league wins in a row to stay second.