Revered Pundit drops cheeky squad rotation claim involving Southampton's fixture | OneFootball

Paul Merson claims Tottenham would beat Southampton easily, even if they field a highly rotated eleven this matchday.

Following a monotonous month's wait, Southampton are back on the road again. The Saints last took a Premier League trip to Liverpool where they showed some resilience and their current outing also demands that courage from them again.

The reason being that another elite opponent is in store for Ivan Juric's men and any slip-up here would be costly for the Saints. Optimistically, the visitors grabbed a valuable point in mid-week but that confidence itself might not be enough.

Hence, critically acclaimed pundit Paul Merson has come to sweeten Southampton's current journey to some extent. Now, don't get excited because Merson is expecting Southampton to taste a similar Anfield frustration in North London.

Just like Liverpool's comeback stung the Saints, Merson believes Spurs could deliver the same, without even fielding their best XI.

Southampton can fight back Merson's claim to a surprise result

Writing in his Sportskeeda column, Merson predicted an easy 3-1 scoreline against Southampton, saying: "I can't see Tottenham playing their best team against Southampton. I wouldn't even be surprised if Spurs rested literally everybody."

Well, listening to this, the Tottenham matchday feels like a no-hope game for Southampton, right? But, never forget the previous Crystal Palace one was the same as well, if not more challenging.

However, fighting against all the odds, they they not only managed a crucial draw but dominated Palace for large stretches of the 90 minutes. Exactly, that intent is required from the Saints, if they hope to prove Paul Merson wrong for the second consecutive time.

Surely, in their worst campaign, Tottenham made Southampton suffer with a 5-0 scoreline, but a lot has changed now. Who knows, if the Saints carry the mentality they displayed last day, a massive Premier League upset could be loading tomorrow?