Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 Tottenham Hotspur (28 Dec, 2023) Game Analysis

Tottenham Hotspur's top-four ambitions suffered a major blow as they lost 4-2 at Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Thursday, with only a late rally saving them from their heaviest defeat since Ange Postecoglou became manager.

Victory would have lifted the injury-hit Spurs above Manchester City into fourth place, but they were mauled on the south coast as a Brighton side also missing key players ran riot.

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A powerful early strike from Josh Hinshelwood and a penalty from Joao Pedro gave the hosts a deserved 2-0 half-time lead as Tottenham struggled to deal with Brighton's intensity.

The visitors responded in the second half with Richarlison having a goal denied, but when half-time substitute Pervis Estupinan sent a thunderbolt past Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and Joao Pedro slotted home a second penalty, the match seemed over.

However, when late Tottenham substitute Alejo Veliz fired in from close range in the 75th minute and Ben Davies headed in, a miraculous comeback suddenly looked possible.

Midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg hit the post for Spurs in added time as Brighton looked nervous, but they held on to move up to eighth in the table on 30 points while Tottenham remain fifth with 36, one point behind the top four.

The final score failed to do justice to a chaotic match in which Tottenham fell behind for long periods but showed admirable spirit to emerge with their pride intact.

For Brighton, without winger Kaoru Mitoma, Tariq Lamptey, Solly March and Julio Enciso, they ended a three-match winless streak.

Tottenham's defensive problems, compounded by the addition of centre-back Cristian Romero to their injury list, were exposed by Brighton as the hosts dominated the first half.

Vicario had already made two saves before Hinshelwood was played in by Joao Pedro on the edge of the area and fired an unstoppable shot high into the net.

Brighton almost doubled their lead when Jan Paul van Hecke's header hit the post and as the ball bounced towards Danny Welbeck, the striker was pulled back by Dejan Kulusevski with a penalty awarded after a VAR check.

Joao Pedro slotted the 23rd-minute penalty past Vicario to put Brighton in command, although Richarlison almost responded just before half-time with a shot that kissed the post.

Spurs looked brighter after the break and wasted several chances before Richarlison scored, only to have his joy cut short when VAR showed he was offside.

Estupinan made it 3-0 against Brighton with a sensational strike from outside the area before Tottenham substitute Giovani Lo Celso conceded a penalty sent in by Joao Pedro.

A series of substitutions revived Spurs with Bryan Gil and Veliz adding some energy to the visitors and the latter celebrated wildly as he scored his first goal for the club.

Davies headed over from close range and Tottenham then had plenty of opportunities to try and score an unlikely point.