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The two Nigerian stars failed to feature as Southampton held Tottenham Hotspur to a thrilling draw.
Paul Onuachu was an unused substitute while Joe Aribo failed to make the matchday squad again as Southampton played out a thrilling 3-3 draw against Tottenham in their Premier League clash at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.
Before today, Onuachu had played just 270 minutes of Premier League football in six games since he joined Southampton while Aribo had not played since January.
Both players were left out again on Saturday as Pedro Porro, Harry Kane and Ivan Perisic traded goals with Che Adams, Theo Walcott and James Ward Prowse.
How it happened
Southampton came into the game on the back of an impressive 0-0 draw at Old Trafford but knew they needed a win to move out of the relegation zone.
The game started at a frenetic pace, with both sides making a change inside the opening ten minutes.
Spurs made the first change as Richarlison came off injured for Dejan Kulusevski in the fifth minute before Mohammed Salisu came on for Armel Bella-Kotchap.
The game kicked off properly with both sides having a go at each other, but neither side created any clear-cut chance.
But just as the game picked up again, Spurs suffered another major blow as Ben Davies went off for Persic.
It did not affect them, though, as they took the lead on the stroke off halftime through Porro, who finished off perfectly into the roof of the net after he was played through by Son.
Ward-Prowse completes Saints comeback in second-half thriller
Porro’s perfect finish ensured Spurs went into the break with a one-goal lead, but Southampton responded immediately after the break, courtesy of a strike from Adams, who tapped home a low cross from Walcott.
The goal lifted the Saints’, who dominated the next ten minutes, but could not take advantage of the dominance.
They would rue their failure to take advantage of their dominance as Spurs restored their lead in the 65th minute through a header from Kane.
It went from bad to worse for the Saints as Perisic’s volley from the edge of the box made it three in the 74th minute.
However, three minutes later, Walcott gave Southampton home as he tapped home from inside the box to pull one back.
It looked like Spurs would hold on until the Saints were awarded a penalty in added time after Pape Matar Sarr was adjudged to have fouled Maitland-Niles in the box.
Southampton had missed all their penalties before that moment, including one from Ward-Prowse.
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However, the Southampton captain made no mistake this time as he fired in from the spot to salvage a point for the home side and put a dent in Spurs’ top four hopes.
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