In their last ever visit to White Hart Lane it was a game of two halves for Saints who eventually paid the price for some sloppy defending in the first 45 minutes.
The big surprise was that Claude Puel left Martin Caceres on the bench again and in truth this was probably a mistake, early on Yoshida was caught napping leaving Fraser Forster to save the day with a fine save.
But there would be no save on 13 minutes when Eriksen was given too much time and space with no one closing him down to pick his spot in the corner, TV replays showed Fraser Forster had no chance.
It looked like it might be a torrid afternoon for Saints with both Yoshida and Stephens being caught out on too many occasions and it needed Forster to keep Saints in the game with a decent save from a header.
On the half hour though came a big blow, Manolo Gabbiadini tweaked his groin and had to depart with Shane Long on in his place.
Saints should have been level though, Nathan Redmond knocked a ball back for Dusan Tadic but from barely six yards he blazed over when really he should have scored.
Saints were starting to get a grip now with Oriol Romeu immense in the centre of the midfield but again they were the architects of their own downfall as they struggled to get the ball cleared in their own penalty area and Delle Ali took advantage of Steven Davis trailing leg to go down and win a penalty.
In the second half though Saints got their act together and started to dominate the play and deserved to pull a goal back with James Ward Prowse firing home after a great overlap and cross from Ryan Bertrand.
But as much as they tried they seemed to be playing not just the 11 men of Spurs but the referee Andre Marriner and his linesman, the feeling was that Marriner had given a soft penalty for Spurs and turned down a nailed on claim when Tadic was kicked in the box, the ref seemed to constantly favour Spurs puling up Saints for clean challenges at times.
Indeed as Spurs fans did their usual "He's one of our own chants" they were silenced by the travelling Saints fans who hit back with "Andre Marriner he's one of your own" even the home fans laughed at that one.
But for all the possession in the second half we could not quite break down the Spurs defence a second time and we went down fighting but with our pride intact.
Man of the match for Saints was Oriol Romeu, he outshone Victor Wanyama and lead by example to drag Saints from disarray and back into the game, he won tackles he passed the ball and was just immense.
Man of the match for Tottenham was Andre Marriner !