Antonio Conte out to make Tottenham history against Southampton

Antonio Conte will be out for a slice of Tottenham Hotspur history when the Lilywhites take on Southampton in Tuesday’s Premier League contest.

The Premier League and Serie A-winning coach has made a strong start to life in North London with four wins and two draws from his opening six top-flight games in charge.

The Lilywhites will have only had 48 hours to recover from their 3-0 win over Crystal Palace when they take to the pitch at St Mary’s, but Conte has an added incentive to avoid defeat here.

Should Tottenham take at least a point from their game on Tuesday, Conte will become the first manager in the club’s history to go undefeated in his opening seven league games at the helm.

Spurs have lost away from home in the Europa Conference League to NS Mura since the Italian took charge, though, and Conte’s only other road game with Tottenham so far ended 0-0 against Everton back in November.

Southampton have lost just once at home in the Premier League this season (W2 D5) and are unbeaten in their last five matches at St Mary’s (W2 D3). They last had a longer unbeaten home run in the competition between March and October 2016 (nine matches).

Since their return to the Premier League in 2012, against no side have Southampton lost more matches in the competition than they have against Spurs (13).

Meanwhile, Tottenham striker Harry Kane has been involved in 16 goals in 11 Premier League starts against Southampton (10 goals, six assists). Kane had a hand in all five of Spurs’ goals in their 5-2 win at St Mary’s last season, scoring one and assisting each of Son Heung-min’s four strikes.

Tottenham occupy fifth position in the Premier League table heading into the midweek contest – six points behind Arsenal with three games in hand.