Tottenham things you might have missed: Son's new record, soaring goal difference and Dele eyes fresh start | OneFootball

Busy week for Spurs - but what went under the radar?

Tottenham got back to winning ways with a 5-0 win over sorry Southampton on Sunday to lift the mood ahead of their crunch fixtures against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-final and Liverpool in the Premier League.

James Maddison's double and goals from Heung-min Son, Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Matar Sarr earned Ange Postecoglou's side their biggest win of the season and prompted Saints to dismiss head coach Russell Martin straight after the match.

Here are five things you may have missed from Tottenham's weekend:

Proud parents

Djed Spence politely declined to speak to the media after the game because he wanted to meet up with his mum, who was part of a small entourage at St. Mary's to support the full-back on his first Spurs start.

Lucas Bergvall, who also started in the Premier League for the first time, did spare a minute for reporters outside the team bus and revealed his dad was also in the ground. "I don't think he even knew [I was starting] but he always supports me," said Bergvall, 18.

Spence took just 36 seconds to set up the opening goal for Maddison, while Bergvall was composed at the base of Spurs' midfield.

Djed Spence impressed in Tottenham’s thrashing of Southampton.

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Youthful Spurs

Bergvall's first League start, another appearance for Archie Gray, 18, at centre-half and the late introductions of 19-year-olds Alfie Dorrington and Will Lankshear meant Spurs became the first Premier League club to have four teenagers on the pitch simultaneously this season.

Dorrington, a homegrown centre-half, made his senior debut as Spurs strolled through the final 15 minutes, while Lankshear made his fourth appearance of the campaign. It was telling that the striker was the fourth most experienced player on Postecoglou's bench, which also included academy graduates Brandon Austin, Malachi Hardy, Maeson King and Callium Olusesi.

Spurs hope to welcome back teenage wingers Mikey Moore and Wilson Odobert from illness and injury, respectively, in the New Year, while 19-year-old Min-hyeok Yang will join from January 1, so there is every chance they will get even younger.

Son's record

Spurs captain Son was only on the pitch for 45 minutes but managed to score and set a new club record for Premier League assists. Son set up Spurs' fourth and fifth goals for Sarr and Maddison -- the latter with an outstanding outside-of-the-boot pass -- to move to 68 assists in the top-flight, beyond the club's previous record-holder Darren Anderton.

Afterwards Son characteristically said he would swap his achievement for a trophy and heaped praise on his teammates. "I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved for this club but still I’m hungry, I want to always improve...if I can change one thing when I score and assist with a trophy I’d definitely do it," he said.

Spurs' soaring goal difference

Spurs moved up to 10th in the table, 13 points shy of League leaders Liverpool but with a strangely incongruous goal difference of +17. In stark contrast, the goal-difference of the six clubs closest to them in the table are +3, +2, +1, +2, +2 and +2 but Postecoglou's side are only one shy of Liverpool and second-placed Chelsea, both on +18.

This is obviously down to simple mathematics: of Spurs' seven victories, the narrowest margin has been by two goals -- the 3-1 win over Brentford -- and all seven of their defeats have been by a single goal.

That should offer reasons for encouragement, although does suggest that Spurs tend to lose the tighter games they are involved in.

Only Chelsea (37) have scored more Premier League goals than Tottenham (36) so far this season.

Action Images via Reuters

Dele eyeing fresh start

Away from present-day Spurs, Dele Alli was spotted watching Italian club Como -- now managed by Cesc Fabregas -- beat Roma 2-0 at the weekend, and is set to begin training with them on Boxing Day with a view to earning a permanent deal.

Alli, who is one of Spurs' favourite sons, has been without a club since being released by Everton over the summer and has not played a competitive game since February 2023, when he was on loan at Besiktas from the north London club.