Tottenham dropped two precious points against 10-man Southampton on Tuesday as West Ham hammered Watford 4-1 to turn up the heat in the race for a coveted Premier League top-four spot.

Elsewhere on a truncated day of action due to coronavirus postponements, Crystal Palace cruised past bottom side Norwich 3-0 while title-chasing Liverpool prepared to take on Leicester.

Spurs are still unbeaten in the league since Antonio Conte took the helm early last month but failed to make a man advantage count at St Mary’s, drawing 1-1.

Adding to their frustrations, Tottenham twice had the ball in the net in the second half but neither goal stood.

Harry Kane’s fine strike was ruled out for a narrow offside by VAR and referee Anthony Taylor adjudged goalkeeper Fraser Forster to have been fouled when he dropped the ball under an innocuous-looking challenge from Matt Doherty.

“We have to be disappointed because you have to exploit the situation against 10 men,” Conte said, refusing to be drawn on the referee’s decisions.

“To play after 44 hours is not easy because you need to recover from the last game,” he told the BBC, referring to Sunday’s win against Palace.

Maybe the fatigue caused bad decisions, especially when we arrived in their box. It’s not easy to take a good result in this stadium. In the end we could do better.”

Southampton took a deserved lead in the 25th minute with a stunning goal from James Ward-Prowse, who lashed home a first-time effort following a throw-in, leaving Hugo Lloris helpless.

Tottenham had failed to make the most of their limited openings but the game was turned on its head when Mohammed Salisu brought down Son Heung-min in the penalty area shortly before half-time.

Salisu was sent off for a second yellow card and Kane made no mistake from the spot.

Spurs thought they had made their man advantage count when Kane produced a clinical finish from a lofted Harry Winks pass but VAR ruled the goal out and Forster’s let-off came midway through the second period.

The home side were on the ropes for most of the rest of the game but Tottenham failed to find a killer touch and left the south coast frustrated.