Tottenham Hotspur is the bogey team for Manchester City, and for what it’s worth, Brighton & Hove Albion is that for Tottenham. For more than half of the match, Brighton put its two chances into the back of the net — caused by Spurs’ mistakes — and in many cases it seemed like that was it for Spurs. But the team came together with goals in the final minutes of both halves to steal a point at The Amex for a 2-2 draw.
Feeling the despair of seeing Brighton capitalizing on two Spurs mistakes — Wilson Odobert and Lucas Bergvall bullied off the ball — a norm for the Lilywhites would be to shut down, count the loss, and move on. But a resilient side came together.
In the 43rd minute, Spurs put together a quick counterattack after winning the ball in Brighton’s half, led by Rodrigo Bentancur. Taking the ball into the box and shying away from shooting, not once, but twice, Bentancur slipped a pass to Mohammed Kudus off the right, who didn’t shy away from firing a shot towards the far post. With his eyes on for goal, the ball hit the feet of Richarlison in front of goal, and with the quick instincts in front of goal, the Brazilian fired a shot at Bart Verbruggen and deflected into the back of the net.
Down 2-1 and entering the second half, Spurs controlled the tempo of the match, holding 83 percent of the possession in the early 15 minutes of the second half. Slotting balls into the six-yard box time and time again, Brighton’s final defense judgments stopped Spurs from finding that equalizer.
But things began to change once Xavi Simons came on as the fresh face for the side and instantly made an impact with two shot attempts inside the box. His first one was on a low-driven cross from Kudus, and with the equalizer seemingly on the board, Simons fluffed his shot wide but didn’t waver from the opportunity. Minutes later, the Dutch sensation took on two Brighton players across the 18-yard box, and with all kinds of space in the box, he slotted a shot to the far post that nearly bounced under the diving palm of Verbruggen.
Still down 2-1 and entering the final 10 minutes of the match, Spurs got some luck by way of an own goal from Jan Paul van Hecke. Delivering balls into the box all game, Kudus did it once more with his left foot as a curling cross for João Palhinha missed the Portuguese’s head, but a whiff by the Brighton defender left Van Hecke in the way and hit his thigh and into the back of the net.
The final minutes of the match had both sides going for the win as Brighton had two chances in the box, but strong defending from the back four allowed the side to stay confident before an almost second own goal from Brighton nearly gifted Spurs all three points in the 94th minute.
Yes, the match wasn’t the easiest to endure. However, for a club that typically folds up shop down 2-0 in the early moments of a game — especially against Brighton — this side under Thomas Frank stayed strong until the very end. Those are positive signs to see as this Spurs side sits 2nd in the Premier League and now shifts its focus to an EFL Cup third-round match against Doncaster on Wednesday.
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