James Maddison has described Tottenham's huge win over Southampton as a "big night" for the club.

Spurs were electric in the first half against the Saints as Ange Postecoglou's side scored five goals in the opening 45 minutes. Two goals from Maddison as well as strikes from Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Matar-Sarr ensured a comfortable 5-0 win for the Lilywhites.

It was a first triumph for the north London outfit since a 4-0 victory at Manchester City on November 23 where Maddison also scored twice, but – much like many of his team-mates – he has flattered to deceive since. A run of one win in eight increased the external noise around the position of head coach Postecoglou, but this result was the perfect boost before Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at home to Manchester United and Sunday’s visit of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

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“It was a big night for us,” Maddison told BBC’s Match of the Day. "We had a poor loss away at Bournemouth and ended up losing at home to Chelsea, a draw with Rangers and you know what it’s like when you are a big team like Tottenham, you get fingers pointed at you and a lot of outside noise, external noise.

“So, make no mistake about that, that was a big night for us to go and win and we’ve struggled against the lesser teams a little bit. It was important and I’m really proud of the lads to come here and put in that performance to get three points. Hopefully it kickstarts a little bit of momentum.”

Postecoglou was equally as proud of his team. "Really proud of the players. We obviously had a tough away European fixture on Thursday night," the Australian said.

"We had 10 first-team players unavailable for a number of reasons today in a squad of 25, and we asked a lot of them to go out there again and dig into their wells of energy. A couple we put out there hadn’t played in ages, haven't started games, so the fact the boys could play with such energy and quality was just outstanding. Really pleased that they get the rewards for it because they deserve it."

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