Premier League: Tottenham Hotspurs v Brighton and Hove Albion

Tottenham defeated Brighton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Gareth Bale’s header won the match. Jose Mourinho’s men took a lead through Harry Kane’s penalty, which was controversial in its own right. Taariq Lamptey equalized through another controversial goal, until Bale won the match for Spurs.

Match Report

Tottenham started brightly and played good attacking football. Attacking has been Tottenham’s best suit this season, as evidenced by Harry Kane and Son Heung Min’s partnership. The former had the chance to equal Mesut Ozil’s record of consecutive assists in consecutive matches, but failed to do so in this match.  Kane got a controversial penalty when he went under Adam Lallana, who had jumped to clear the ball. Replays showed that Kane had seen Lallana’s jump and hadn’t even attempted to get the ball. The foul also seemed to have occurred outside the box, but a penalty was given anyway.

Kane slotted that in and bizarrely, Mourinho’s men sat back and defended their fragile lead. Since they didn’t attack and conceded possession to Graham Potter’s men, Brighton attacked strongly. They managed to get an equalizer through Taariq Lamptey, although VAR replays showed that Pierre-Emile Hojberg was fouled in the build-up.

Gareth Bale was subbed on in the 70^th minute and scored the winning goal for Tottenham. Sergio Reguilon delivered a perfect cross to Bale and he perfectly headed the ball in. This was Bale’s first goal for Tottenham in seven years and it couldn’t have come at a perfect occasion.

All in all it wasn’t a pretty match, but one that was enough to take Totteham to second place behind Liverpool. Tottenham next face Ludogerets in the Europa League, while Brighton faces Burnley in the weekend

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