Spurs would have won against 11 men, Pochettino

London - Mauricio Pochettino believes Spurs would have overcome his former club Southampton, even if the Saints had kept 11 men on the field.

Pochettino’s return to the south coast on Wednesday was a happy one for the Spurs manager after the visitors ran out 4-1 winners thanks to goals from Dele Ali (two), Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min.

However, just after Spurs had wiped out Virgil van Dijk’s second minute opener and taken the lead early in the second half, Southampton were reduced to 10 men when Nathan Redmond was sent off.

Pochettino felt Spurs were so dominant though, that they would have gone on to win the game, even if Redmond had remained on the field.

"It was not a key action to change the game because in that moment, we dominated the game, we created a lot of chances," Pochettino said.

"It was difficult to see from my position but we deserve more than Southampton. We played better, it's a very fair result.

"After we scored, at 1-1, we start to show character and personality, we were better than Southampton. Second half we were much, much, much better, and in the end we fully deserved the result."

Meanwhile, Spurs could be without three defenders for their New Year’s Day’s encounter against Watford, with Jan Vertonghen and Kyle Walker both missing the game through suspension after collecting their fifth yellow cards of the season.

Toby Alderweireld is also a major doubt after missing the Southampton encounter through illness.

Kick off is at 15:30.