With the heat on, the last thing that Mauricio Pochettino needed was a daft sending-off for the loose cannon that is Serge Aurier after 31 minutes and a goalkeeping howler from Hugo Lloris that presented Danny Ings and Southampton with an equaliser.
At that point, it was easy to fear for
Tottenham, who had won only two of their previous eight matches in all competitions this season. It has been a slog and it has been impossible to ignore the impression that the problems have piled up for the club since the summer. The challenge for them was to get over this latest bump; to show their determination to
fashion a springboard for better things.