Johnson double spells the end for abject Southampton

It may be that Southampton pick up the two points they need to surpass Derby's 2007-08 tally of 11 so as not to be ranked the worst team in Premier League history, but no side has previously been relegated with seven games of the season remaining.

- Jonathan Wilson

In that sense, and that alone, this was a historic day, a new high in abjection.

A facile win, though, did not bring a huge amount of joy for Tottenham. It is remarkable just how bad a team in Southampton's position can become. As with Spurs' 5-0 win at St Mary's in December, the game that led to Russell Martin being dismissed, there was a sense it was almost too straightforward to be meaningful.

Yes, the knife cut through the butter; that doesn't make it a good knife. Tottenham's opener was a case in point, four neat passes leading to Djed Spence's cross for Brennan Johnson, but probably not the sort of interchange you could perform unchallenged against decent opposition.

When Johnson, played onside by not one but two Southampton defenders, poked in a second five minutes before half-time, the crowd's reaction was a half-hearted "Wa-hey" rather than a proper cheer. For both sides for several weeks this league campaign has been something to be got out of the way. Rarely can a late goal to cut the gap to one have provoked so little drama as Mateus Fernandes's strike; Mathys Tel's penalty restored the two-goal margin.