Tottenham Hotspur will head to the south coast this afternoon for their Premier League clash with Southampton and Antonio Conte will be hoping that the winning confidence shown against Nottingham Forest can shine through away from home.

The Lilywhites are currently fourth in the top flight table with Newcastle United just one point behind following their victory over Forest last night, so another three points collected today will be crucial to keep good distance between themselves and their rivals for the last Champions League qualification spot.

Southampton have only won two of their 10 Premier League home games against Spurs since they were promoted to the top flight and haven't beaten the side at Sy Mary's since January 2020, so today's meeting should put the visitors in a good position to chalk up another win.

Conte will still be without a number of his key players going into the game with Hugo Lloris, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Ryan Sessegnon still unavailable for selection due to various ongoing injury issues.

However, the Spurs boss has been given a boost with Emerson Royal returning to training earlier this week following a knee injury and he could be the secret weapon needed to snatch another victory.

Will Emerson Royal start vs Southampton?

There is no doubt that Emerson has struggled to hit the high expectations set since joining the club back in 2021 from Barcelona and the arrival of Pedro Porro on loan in January has provided tight competition for the right-back position in north London this season.

However, the Brazilian 24-year-old has had a few moments of magic over the campaign so far scoring twice in his last seven league outings with a goal against Manchester City and more recently in the victory over West Ham United.

Over 21 league appearances, the £40k-per-week ace - hailed “important” by assistant manager Cristian Stellini - has scored two goals, registered one assist and successfully completed 68% of his dribbles, as well as averaging 51.9 touches, two tackles, 2.3 clearances and 4.7 duels won per game.

In fact, Emerson’s only assist this season came in the opening game of the season at home in a 4-1 victory over the Saints - so there’s no reason why Emerson can’t terrify his opponents again this afternoon.

With that being said, the opportunity to either start or bring Emerson on from the bench will be a big boost for Spurs and will give Conte more depth to the attacking threat inflicted on Ruben Selles’ side.