Tottenham Hotspur beat Southampton to cut gap at the top

Tottenham Hotspur moved back to within 10 points of Premier League leaders Chelsea as they saw off Southampton 2-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday -- their 10th home league win a row.

Spurs made the brighter start and created the first chance after only three minutes when Son Heung-Min got behind the defence to fire in a half-volley that was tipped away by Fraser Forster.

Eric Dier found himself in the book after only 11 minutes when he crunched into a challenge on in-form Southampton attacker Nathan Redmond.

But two minutes later the home side were ahead as Christian Eriksen controlled a Mousa Dembele pass and fired a superb low strike into the corner from the edge of the area.

Southampton almost found themselves back on level terms when a powerful Oriol Romeu shot from distance swerved past the post, but they were grateful to Forster after 23 minutes as he made a fine stop to claw away Toby Alderweireld's glancing header.

In-form Manolo Gabbiadini bent an instinctive first-time effort just wide as Saints responded and Dusan Tadic blazed over from seven yards after Redmond had nudged a deep cross back into his path.

Gabbiadini suffered an injury in the buildup to his attempt and was replaced by Shane Long -- and soon afterwards Tottenham had a 2-0 lead.

Southampton failed to clear a loose ball and, as it ricocheted around the area, Steven Davis was adjudged to have brought down Dele Alli.

Alli got back to his feet to send Forster the wrong way from the penalty spot and double the advantage after 32 minutes.

It looked as though Southampton should have had a penalty in first-half added time when Davies chopped down Tadic, but the referee waved play on as Mauricio Pochettino's side reached the break with a two-goal cushion.

That cushion was reduced six minutes after the break when two home defenders failed to cut out a Ryan Bertrand cross into the area and James Ward-Prowse finished neatly to put the visitors back into the game.

Son fired wide as Spurs looked to reassert themselves before a Long effort was stopped by Lloris with Southampton growing in confidence.

The visitors began to force Tottenham back without being able to create clear openings, Long caught offside when a good move had opened up what appeared to be a great chance to cross.

Substitute Vincent Janssen saw his powerful strike pushed away by Forster as the game entered its closing minutes, and Tottenham saw out five minutes of stoppage time to take another three home points.