Spurs 2 Brighton 2
A late dagger sinks Spurs even further into the relegation battle. The first half was mainly dominated by Spurs but it was Brighton that created the best chances as Van de Ven cleared the ball into his own post and Welbeck missed a good chance from a free-kick to keep the game at 0-0 in the opening stages of the first half. Then in the 39th minute Spurs got their goal as Xavi Simons crossed the ball into the box with Pedro Porro beating Verbruggen to the ball to give Spurs the lead, Simons should have made it 2-0 before the half was over missing a great chance but it was Brighton that scored before the end of the half as Pascal Gross crossed the ball to the backpost where substitute Karou Mitoma volleyed home brilliantly first time to bring Brighton level three minutes into added time. Brighton gained a foothold in the game in the second half but couldn’t take the lead heading towards the closing stages of the game where Spurs were able to go back in front as Bergvaal won possession giving it off to Simons who worked some space on the edge of the box and fired a missile off the post and past Verbruggen to send the stadium into raptures in the 77th minute. Spurs were then hanging on in injury time and a mistake by Kevin Danso gave Van Hecke the ball in the box who cut it back to Rutter who’s first time finish was brilliant and gained Brighton a point as Spurs were dealt a massive late blow in the fight to stay up.
How big a blow is that for Spurs? The celebrations after the Simons goal showed how emotional these Spurs players are at the minute even with 15 minutes left to play and to let it slip at the end from such a silly mistake must be absolutely heart-breaking for everyone involved with Spurs but there was positives to take from that performance, first of all Xavi Simons who I did say had to come into the side last week was integral for both goals and he can take real confidence from the way he played today as long as he’s not injured but I think it looked like cramp at the end of the game. The second positive for me was the return of Rodrigo Bentancur who was by far Spurs’ best midfielder on the pitch and looked like he hadn’t missed a step despite being out for so long, the unfortunate part was that he had to play alongside Conor Gallagher who yet again just offers nothing in that Spurs midfield and I’d be shocked if he starts against Wolves next week. The disappointing part of that Spurs team was up front for me were Solanke and Kolo-Muani offered next to nothing with the Frenchman looking miles out of his depth on the wing but I suppose De Zerbi is short for options out there at the minute, if they don’t get a win against Wolves next week I think they’re as good as down.
Take the point and get out of there for Brighton. It wasn’t the greatest performance from Hurtzeler’s men but they’ll take a draw so late when it looked like they might give Spurs their first Premier League of 2026, the injury to Diego Gomez actually ended up working out for Brighton as Mitoma came on and scored a worldy of a volley when it looked like they might go into half-time on the losing side. Danny Welbeck had an uncharacteristically poor game up front missing a handful of chances that on another day probably could have won Brighton the game but he’s allowed an off day after such a strong season thus far, defensively Brighton didn’t look great as Verbruggen looked shaky all game with his mistake costing his team the first goal but there wasn’t much he could do about the second as Simons hit an absolute rocket. The objective for Brighton still remains to finish in the European places with Chelsea coming up on Tuesday at the AMEX which is a huge game for both teams as Chelsea look to turn their poor form around heading into the last few games of the season.
I still don’t think Spurs will get relegated. I know I’ve been saying this for the last few months but whilst the possibility of Spurs going down is increasing every week I still just can’t see them going down, they will have taken a huge hit today with that last minute equaliser but I think they’ll beat Wolves next week which could be the start of Spurs finally gaining some momentum in the league. The most important thing De Zerbi has to figure out before then is getting his attackers to look like they’ve played with each other before as they might as well have been playing with 9 men out there with Solanke and Kolo-Muani failing to really to anything in the game, those two players have far too much quality to be putting in below-par performances so I hope De Zerbi can find a way to get the best out of them which could be the difference in Spurs staying up or going down.
The table continues to look spooky for Spurs. This result keeps Spurs in 18th with West Ham going to Crystal Palace on Monday and Nottingham Forest playing Burnley at home tomorrow which you’d imagine they’ll win, Leeds picked up yet another crucial win against Wolves earlier on to take them 8 points clear of Spurs which you’d imagine means they’re safe for the season. It does now mean that if Forest beat Burnley tomorrow it basically comes down to West Ham and Spurs as to who will be going down this year, that game on Monday night is huge for West Ham who do have the advantage of a full weeks rest whilst Palace played in Florence on Thursday in the Conference League. A win for West Ham take them 4 points clear of Spurs but I’m not sure they’ll be able to win at Selhurst Park where not many have been able to go and pick up 3 points there this season, it’s a match I’m not sure Spurs fans will be able to watch much of as a West Ham win would be devastating in their hopes of survival. A big week lies ahead in the relegation battle, who will blink first?