That’s all from me. Once again, your key links follow, to a report on this game and the 3pm clockwatch:
Jose Mourinho has a quick chat:
Very happy with the second half. We changed bits, it was not about players it was about bits, but sometimes they can make a difference. The first half was not a disaster, it was a difficult game against a good team. After defeats it’s never easy and when you don’t start well after a defeat it always affects self-esteem. When you are exposed in free-kicks and corners it’s really hard. These guys, in a real good football team, they have three or four giants, really very strong in the air. They’re not a team that plays direct, but in the last 10 minutes Burn was striker and he’s a 2m target. They have monsters in the air and that affected the team.
On Dele Alli:
Alli, another goal and another incredible effort, from first to last minute. The work rate, absolutely incredible. For me, these little big details are more important than what is in the eyes of the people. Amazing goal, but I go to other details and his fighting spirit was amazing also.
Jacob Steinberg was our man at White Hart Lane. Here’s his match report:
A lucky bounce and a flash of class made the difference for Tottenham. It was a messy, uneven display for the most part and José Mourinho ended grateful to have a finisher as ruthless as Harry Kane in his ranks. Kane’s equaliser arrived when a loose clearance fell his way, giving him the chance to puncture the frustration in the stands, and the points belonged to Spurs when Dele Alli elevated an otherwise ineffective showing with a beautiful winning goal.
It felt harsh on Brighton & Hove Albion, who will look back on the moment when Aaron Connolly missed a glorious chance to double their lead at the start of the second half. Yet Graham Potter’s side have one win in their past nine games for a reason. Spurs had greater quality in the final third. Alli’s inspiration defined the game and there was also an impressive cameo from Christian Eriksen, reminding everyone that Spurs will not find it easy to replace his creativity if he leaves during the January transfer window.
Much more here:
The action’s over at White Hart Lane, but elsewhere it’s just getting started. Follow the 3pm games with Will Unwin here:
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Final score: Tottenham 2-1 Brighton
90+5 mins: It’s all over, and Tottenham have held on!
90+3 mins: Trossard has the ball in a good crossing position, but Sanchez closes him down excellently, forces him back and away, and eventually Spurs win it and break. A few seconds later the ball is played to Kane, whose shot is splendidly blocked by Alzate.
90+1 mins: Into stoppage time, of which there’ll be four minutes or so.
90 mins: Save! Kane’s excellent pass finds Alli, whose first touch is phenomenal and opens up a great shooting chance. He slams it goalwards with his left boot, but Ryan tips it over!
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90 mins: They do break, and Kane carries the ball into the area before shooting way wide.
89 mins: Now it’s Tottenham’s turn to sit back, defend in numbers and try to break.
88 mins: Half a chance for Brighton! Well, a chance to make a chance. A half-chance once removed. Trossard crosses, Burn meets it beyond the far post but his volleyed centre is cut out.
84 mins: Sissoko pushes Burn to the ground, and then kicks him a bit, and after Burn gets up and gives him a bit of a shove Sissoko pushes him again a couple of times. All a bit silly, but Sissoko is booked and like Winks will miss Tottenham’s next game, at Norwich.
83 mins: The game’s last substitution sees Yves Bissouma replaces Schelotto. Brighton’s two starting full-backs both played well, I thought, but both are now off the pitch.
82 mins: A Brighton attack ends with Gross, outside the penalty area and left of central, with absolutely no passing options, so he has a shot that Gazzaniga saves unconvincingly.
77 mins: Brighton take of Bernardo and bring on Trossard.
“Can we talk about that Alli challenge?” asks Philip Reilly. “His eyes were on the man, and he only left the ground after the ball was gone. It was a deliberate, cynical attempt to take Webster out. That kind of challenge is far, far more dangerous than any slide-tackle. Worst that can happen with a two-footer is a broken leg. It’s no exaggeration to say that Alli could have given Webster a concussion, or even broken his neck.” I’m not convinced that it was more dangerous than any slide tackle, but I do think it’s absolutely bonkers that he wasn’t at the very least booked for it.
76 mins: Mooy blasts a shot over the bar, given very little space and time outside the area. Spurs take off another booked player, replacing Lucas Moura with Dier.
75 mins: Lucas, who has attacked the second half with uncommon relish, is booked for a mistimed challenge.
72 mins: Spurs keep the ball for an absolute age, before Eriksen finally lifts a crossfield pass to Aurier, bursting into the right-hand side of the area. He volleys a cushioned pass to Dele Alli, whose first-time shot goes over Ryan and dips under the bar at the far post. That was the best move of the game by either side and by a million miles, and the finish was sensational.
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GOAL! Tottenham 2-1 Brighton (Alli, 72 mins)
That’s an absolutely great goal!
68 mins: A couple of substitutions, Spurs bringing Christian Eriksen on for the disciplinarily-challenged Winks, and Brighton bringing Neal Maupay on for Connolly.
67 mins: Saved! Gross thumps a shot goalwards, but it’s straight at the keeper and is pushed away.
66 mins: Brighton do manage to break, and after Schelotto’s low cross to Connolly is cut out Winks brings down Gross just outside the area. Again there’s very little contact, which is presumably why the referee doesn’t book him again.
65 mins: A couple of minutes of sustained Spurs pressure, and it hasn’t ended yet. Brighton’s deep 5-4-1 leaves just Connolly up front and makes it hard for them to clear their lines.
61 mins: Kane gets brushed in the chin by Burn’s hand and goes down clutching his face. Not only that, he stays there as Brighton try to break as if genuinely hurt, with the crowd baying and howling, distracting the visitors and forcing them to put the ball into touch. Whereupon he just gets up. That is pure shithousery from the England captain.
58 mins: Dele Alli could easily have been sent off for a head-high arse-charge there. He has absolutely no chance of getting the ball but goes leaping in anyway, and after Webster heads it and lands he arrives and smacks him around the chops with his flying buttocks. Somehow he isn’t even booked. That’s just bizarre.
57 mins: Almost a near-total repeat of the goal! This time Sissoko’s heavy touch runs to a defender, the clearance rebounds straight to Kane in space and inside the area, but it’s going too fast for him to control.
56 mins: Mourinho was preparing a substitution before the goal, and he goes ahead with it, taking Sessegnon off and bringing Lo Celso on.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Brighton (Kane, 53 mins)
A lucky break, and Spurs are level! Moura battles for the ball outside Brighton’s area, keeps it for a while, but then a poor touch sends it to Webster. Instead of blootering it clear he tries to chip a gentle pass to a team-mate, it rebounds off a random leg to Kane - who Webster had been marking a moment earlier - and he turns into the box, has one shot that is saved and then hits the rebound inside the near post!
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49 mins: Chance for Brighton! Webster does great to get to the byline on the right, and though his cross is overhit they keep the ball and work it back to Bernardo, whose excellent first-time cross finds Connolly jumping on the edge of the six-yard box, completely unmarked, but he fluffs his header and shoulder it weakly to Gazzaniga!
46 mins: It’s crossed in, and Brighton win another header.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Play restarts, and Spurs win a corner within 30 seconds.
The players are back out. More action imminent.
“I don’t buy the ‘we wuz robbed’ cry of Spurs faithful,” insists Mary Waltz. “Brighton took advantage of their corners and have defended well. Fair score.” It was a free-kick, but still, fair enough. Meanwhile, a Guardian journalist writes:
I think that whatever flirtation I may have had with Mourinho is well and truly over. This is a shitshow
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) December 26, 2019
Half time: Tottenham 0-1 Brighton
45+3 mins: Spurs have a corner, which is sent into the area, headed out again, and that’s the end of the half. “I’m no Spurs fan but what a horrible 10 minutes for them,” groans Duncan Edwards. “VARce yet again overturning decades of giving the attacker the benefit of the doubt, a blatant obstruction for a dangerous indirect free kick completely ignored, then conceding from a dead ball. Horror. Good header though.”
I do think Kane was offside, and that the VAR photo made it look closer than it was. I also think that Brighton have been excellent, have won most of the loose and second balls, and though they haven’t created very much are not really flattered by the scoreline.
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45+2 mins: A deflected pass drops to Sessegnon in the penalty area, but Schelotto hooks round a boot to get rid of it.
45+1 mins: There’ll be about two minutes of stoppage time.
43 mins: So nearly a chance for Spurs! Sissoko gets to the byline and pulls back towards Alli at the near post, but Duffy does well to track his run and slide in to reach the ball first.
42 mins: Gross wants to pass to Schelotto on the right, but his team-mate falls over at the vital moment and Gross instead has to turn back, is dispossessed by Kane and ends up bringing him down and getting booked.
40 mins: Brighton again win the header, but Bernardo’s effort is saved.
39 mins: Now Sanchez is booked, for holding onto Connolly. There wasn’t much in it, and Connolly only went to ground after Sanchez had let go, but the Spurs centre-back is booked all the same. Gross sends in another fine cross from the free-kick, but Spurs clear it behind for a corner.
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GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 Brighton (Webster, 37 mins)
Gross curls the ball into the box and Webster emphatically outjumps Alderweireld and thumps his header into the corner!
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37 mins: Brighton break, and Schelotto barrels down the right. He eventually falls over Winks’ challenge. There was very little contact, but Winks is booked and Brighton can cross.
36 mins: Vertonghen chips the free-kick into the box, where several Spurs players are offside but for a moment it seems Sissoko is not. He gets to the ball but his finish is feeble and saved, and the flag is up anyway.
34 mins: Now Duffy fouls Moura, and Spurs have another free-kick from a very similar position, perhaps a couple of yards back. It’s funny how a gentle tug of a shirt (as executed by Burn a couple of minutes back) is a guaranteed booking, but a sliding trip from behind is not.
32 mins: Kane eventually takes the free-kick, and smacks it into the wall.
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30 mins: Burn pulls Moura, gets booked and gives Spurs a free-kick, just outside the Brighton box. Here’s proof of Kane’s offsideness. It looks close, but suspect that a picture taken from a straighter angle would be much more conclusive.
As you were#PLonPrime #TOTBHA pic.twitter.com/DOAr4L1wWF
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 26, 2019
29 mins: Ryan tries to shepherd the ball out of play, and Duffy assists him by blocking Kane’s attempt to pressure him. This is as clear a case of obstruction as you could ever hope to see, but the referee doesn’t see it.
Goal disallowed! Tottenham 0-0 Brighton
25 mins: Kane looked fractionally offside in the replays, but when the VAR got their freezeframe sorted there was very little in it. They draw some lines and decide that there was an offending bit of shoulder.
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GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Brighton (Kane, 24 mins)
Brighton have been the better team for the last 10 minutes or so, but then Winks lifts the ball over their defence, Kane runs onto it and, with Ryan having sprinted from his line but got nowhere near the ball, has a straightforward finish which he completes with ease! But this’ll be checked for offside and looks close.
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22 mins: Mooy’s shot from the edge of the area curls just wide of the left-hand post. The referee spots a slight deflection and gives Brighton a corner.
19 mins: It has been an encouraging start for Brighton, though Kane has looked in worryingly good touch when he has got on the ball, which has been very occasionally. “Tottenham seem to be playing a bagel like formation today,” writes Jeremy Dresner, There is a hole in the middle. The flavour of this particular bagel it is too early to tell.”
15 mins: Alli surges down the left, turns and plays the ball back, retreats to the edge of the area and then sprints into it. All the while Webster tracks him very well, stopping him from crossing and then shadowing his run into the box. He heads the through-ball away from the Spurs player’s path, and though Alli manages to change direction and get to it, he is swiftly closed down again.
13 mins: Save! Brighton work the ball across the edge of Tottenham’s penalty area, and Alzate’s shot from 25 yards is pushed to safety by Gazzaniga.
11 mins: Bernardo, who has been rather good so far, gets another crossing chance, but his low centre isn’t great and is cleared. Brighton win the ball back swiftly, and have hogged it for a couple of minutes now.
8 mins: Alderweireld pops the ball over the entire Brighton team to Sessegnon, who like Kane to his right is offside, but plays on, draws Ryan from his line and hits the post with a shot before the whistle blows.
5 mins: Now Kane crosses from the right towards Sessegnon at the far post, but he can’t turn it in! Instead he miscues his shot into Schelotto, which at least means Spurs have a corner.
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4 mins: The first shot of the day comes off a Brighton boot. It’s a lovely cross from Bernardo on the left, which is headed out to Alzate, who takes two lovely touches to get space and set himself but then mishits his shot wide.
3 mins: Aurier rampages down the right and is picked out by a fine crossfield pass, but he had rampaged a bit too far and is offside.
1 min: Spurs get the game started, and instead of the more common post-kick-off hump forward and straight out of play they pass it around their backline for a while before humping it forward and straight out of play.
1 min: Peeeeeeeep!
Brighton are huddling. “Mourinho prefers time to players?” muses Matt Dony. “Specifically, about two and a half seasons, usually.”
Out they come! The wait is over!
They’re still in the tunnel. It appears to be bucketing it down in Tottenham, so perhaps they’re not inclined to leave.
The players are in the tunnel, and Boxing Day action is just minutes away now.
Graham Potter has a chat with Amazon. I basically waited for him to say something interesting (or, indeed, for him to be asked something interesting) but it never happened. Here’s a sample paragraph:
We lost Lewis yesterday with a bit of sickness, so that’s one we have to adjust around. Few players coming in, but at this time of year we try to use the squad as best we can. We’ll carry on with what we’ve been working with and see how the game goes. Overall, our performance levels have been quite good. Everybody wants to win, but it’s sport. Someone has to win, somebody has to lose, and we have to just respond to that.
Amazon, broadcasting every Premier League game today as you may have heard, do the rounds of the grounds, with the presenting teams already in place for all the afternoon games, and Gabby Logan broadcasting live from her car as she drives towards Anfield for the evening kick-off.
In Brighton news, Lewis Dunk is unwell, hence his absence from today’s squad.
Mourinho is also asked about his ambitions for the January transfer window:
I like the players very much. I like them as players, I like them as the human group they are, and I’m really happy with them, and I want to give them all I have to give them and I want to improve them, and I don’t think it’s fair arriving five weeks ago to look to windows. I need time. After the 2nd of January we have a couple of weeks where we can work. Since I arrived, it has been really difficult to work with the intensity and the dynamic that you want. I prefer time to players.
Also, on the subject of festive football:
If you love football your heart is full of joy. It is one of the things I didn’t like in my Italian adventure, in my Spanish adventure, it was not to play football in this period. It is something I really love. I understand that families have to love us and they have to understand us, to cope with it. But for everybody who goes to this stadium it is amazing and it is our job and our responsibility to give them what they love. You give people what they love, and you are the only country that gives them that.
Jose Mourinho is asked how his Christmas Day went.
To be honest it was very sad, because my dog died and my dog is my family, so very difficult. But we have to move on.
Apparently Tanguy Ndombele is not injured, he simply has not been picked for today’s squad.
“It seems Jose has leaned his lesson with regards to Dier, but still can’t see that continuing to play Aurier is costing us,” writes Steve Porter. “He’s a red card/penalty waiting to happen and he indirectly depletes our midfield by forcing Sissoko to drop back to cover.” I don’t think that’s entirely fair: as Willian showed at the weekend, he’s also an easy goalscoring change waiting to happen.
Also making his first (league) start of the season is Ryan Sessegnon, who replaces Son in the Spurs side. Harry Winks is also in, replacing Eric Dier.
Brighton do indeed ring the changes, with Ezequiel Schelotto making his first start of the season (there have been only three substitute appearances), Lewis Dunk out of the squad altogether, and Shane Duffy, Bernardo, Steven Alzate and Aaron Connolly also coming in.
The teams!
Team sheets have been handed in, and these were the names upon them:
Tottenham Hotspur: Gazzaniga, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Sissoko, Winks, Lucas Moura, Alli, Sessegnon, Kane. Subs: Lamela, Vorm, Dier, Lo Celso, Foyth, Eriksen, Tanganga.
Brighton: Ryan, Webster, Duffy, Burn, Stephens, Bernardo, Gross, Mooy, Schelotto, Alzate, Connolly. Subs: Maupay, Bissouma, Trossard, Murray, Montoya, Propper, Button.
Referee: Graham Scott.
📋 #THFC: Gazzaniga, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Winks, Sissoko, Lucas, Dele, Sessegnon, Kane (C).
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 26, 2019
📲 @WilliamHill latest (18+)https://t.co/g7lU6lpCPS#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/4BsJJCB7eH
🔢 Here’s how Albion line-up for today’s lunchtime game with @SpursOfficial, live on @primevideosport.
— Brighton & Hove Albion ⚽️ (@OfficialBHAFC) December 26, 2019
📲 Matchday Live is presented by @SnickersUKCom.#BHAFC ⚫️ pic.twitter.com/R4Tmgpn8b5
Hello world!
Brighton bring bad memories to Tottenham, primarily of a 3-0 thwacking at the AmEx Stadium in October, a match full of unfortunate incidents from a Spurs perspective including the dislocation of Hugo Lloris’s elbow, an injury from which he is yet to return. Mauricio Pochettino was sacked the following month, without winning another league game. Results have improved since José Mourinho’s appointment, but Tottenham’s most recent game – against Chelsea on Sunday – was another trial, and Son Heung-min will miss this match as a result of his red card in that one.
Brighton’s record on their travels is poor, and it gets worse the further they travel. It’s the 16th-best away record in the Premier League overall, but they have only won one point when forced to go further north than Watford (that’s 0.2 points per game) compared with seven points garnered in London and its environs (at 1.75 points per game). As such, the omens are good of further glory here but the long-term prognosis is bad (with only the trips to West Ham and Southampton to come within their approximately-65-mile comfort zone). But there is also a question of priorities: they are hosting Bournemouth in a couple of days and could perhaps decide that focusing on that match might mean they win one of the two fixtures where a full-on commitment to this one could end with them winning neither.
Anyway, welcome. It’s Boxing Day. How are we all feeling?
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