Pott luck having big say in race for the top four
FOR a team which isn’t directly involved in the race for the top four, Brighton are having a major say in how it finishes.
Last week Graham Potter’s side hit Arsenal’s hopes and yesterday it was Tottenham’s turn.
It wasn’t until the 90th minute that the Seagulls finally made the breakthrough, Leandro Trossard turning inside Eric Dier before scoring.
But they had been the better team for much of the game, boxing Spurs into their own half for large parts of it, and fully deserved their victory.
In fact, so hard did Antonio Conte’s Spurs find it to get forward that they failed to get a shot on target.
Arsenal did their bit to aid Spurs’ top-four cause by losing at Southampton later yesterday but Conte said: “It was not a good result for us.
“A lesson that we can learn from it is that there are games that if you are not able to win, you don’t lose.
“It was very, very clear that it wasn’t our day.
“It was very important to get three points as we played before our rivals in the race for the Champions League.
“But the game was very difficult because it was a tactical game for both sides and Brighton were very good at closing every space.
“We helped them in this job because we moved the ball slowly and in the end we are able to do much better than we did.
“Maybe a draw
Tottenham 0 Brighton 1
would have been a fairer final result but Brighton played a good game.
“If you win against Arsenal and Tottenham away it means the team is a good team.
“Brighton were very good to close every space and we weren’t so good at finding space. We can do much better.”
Delighted Brighton boss Potter said: “It feels even better than Arsenal, and I say that because I thought our performance was a step up, actually.
“The players were incredible – work-rate, understanding and discipline, aggression and quality.
‘‘It was everything you need because you have to perform well to give yourselves a chance against a top team like Spurs.
“It felt like we had a good organisation and an attitude to run and defend and be brave when we had the ball as well.
“We asked some questions of Spurs. It wasn’t a smash and grab, we tried to press high, win the ball back and we were playing against a lot of worldclass players and a team that’s in a great moment.
“We knew we had to be good and we were. It was a deserved win for us today.”
TOTTENHAM: Lloris 6, Romero 7,
Dier 6, Davies 6, Royal 6, Bentancur 6 (Winks 71, 6), Hojbjerg 6, Reguilon 6, Kulusevski 6 (Moura 63, 6), Kane 5, Son 6, (Bergwijn 87).
BRIGHTON: Sanchez 6, Lamptey 7 (March 81), Veltman 6, Dunk 6, Cucurella 7, Gross 7, Bissouma 8, Caicedo 7 (Lallana 76), Mwepu 7 (Welbeck 46, 6), Macallister 7, Trossard 8.
MAN OF THE MATCH: YVES BISSOUMA – Quality on and off the ball, he worked his socks off and ran the midfield.
REF: C Pawson ATT: 58,685