Here’s David Hytner’s match report. And with that, goodnight.
The Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou, speaks to Amazon Prime Video: “Look, we probably looked a little bit tired. I’ve got to be fair on the lads, they’ve put in a hell of a shift in the last few weeks … we hung in there til the end, can’t fault the effort.
“We lacked some energy tonight. Against Brighton, that’s going to cost you. The good thing is the lads gave everything, and that’s all I can ask for.
“We’ve got 10 players injured … the players have given everything, every game … it’s a credit to them that we’re in the position we’re in.
“No lessons [to take]. Like I said, all a new manage can ask is for players to give everything they’ve got. And that’s what I got today.”
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We’ll have a match report coming up soon …
Danny Welbeck speaks to Amazon Prime Video: “It was a good performance. First half was brilliant from us … we played some good football, we exposed some of their weaknesses … the last 20 minutes was difficult, we’ve got to learn about managing the game.”
Estupinan’s goal: “It was incredible … we give him a bit of stick [about long-range shots] … he’s been out for a while and everybody’s over the moon for him. Once he took that touch, and once the ball left his boot, I think he knew it was in. I think it was a goal he’ll remember forever.
“2023 has been incredible [for Brighton] … we’ve set standards of where we want to be … we want more. We’ve got hungry people in the squad. We’ve won 4-2 but we’ve got that bit of disappointment that we’ve conceded two goals. We’re hoping to get better and better.”
And man of the match, João Pedro, says: “Very happy today … always in the training I try to practise [penalties] … I’m very happy to score today and very happy to give an assist.”
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West Ham are beating “The Arsenal” 2-0 right now. Niall McVeigh has the details:
Reaction coming up, where possible, and of course we’ll have a match report too.
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We nearly had an enormously dramatic finish there when Spurs threatened to pull it back to 4-3 in the final minutes. Brighton were far, far better overall though, they played Tottenham off the park in the first half particularly, and a couple of late goals by Ange Postecoglou’s men prevented a complete drubbing and saved a bit of face.
Full time! Brighton 4-2 Tottenham
The game is up.
90 min +9: Bryan Gil cracks a shot over the bar after a brilliant run by Udogie. Son is furious with him for not laying it off. Which is fair. Not to be rude or anything but Gil isn’t very good, is he?
90 min + 8: Brighton’s goalie, Steele, claims a high ball and the home fans applaud. They are nearly home.
90 min +7: It looked as if Spurs were nailed on to get a third goal and set up a box-office finish in stoppage time. But Brighton have succeeded in taking the sting out of this now.
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90 min +5: Hojbjerg hits the post!!! Udogie, again, is the man who has Brighton back-pedalling. He’s playing as an extra forward out on that left wing. There are appeals that Estupinan committed a handball from a follow-up effort by Porro after Hojbjerg hits the post with a fine right-footed effort … but it’s checked by VAR, and it’s all good.
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90 min +3: Lo Celso and João Pedro have a little tete-a-tete when João Pedro is walking off the field having been substituted. João Pedro whips up the crowd after going off.
90 min +1: Kulusevski and Veliz both have efforts on goal. In Veliz’s case it was a smart turn around the six-yard box but his shot is blocked.
Adam Lallana is coming on for Brighton. Dunk also went down injured, possibly looking to take the heat out of this momentum that Tottenham are building.
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89 min: Estupinan challenges Son in the Brighton area. Son goes down, looking for a penalty. No luck.
Udogie then storms down the left, to the byline, and cuts the ball back … Gil has the goal at his mercy but fluffs it completely!
We will have nine minutes, minimum, of added time. Spurs come yet again, Kulusevski belting a shot which veers wide of goal.
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87 min: Tottenham win a free-kick in an advanced area. This will be launched into the mixer by Porro … But it’s overhit, and a goal kick.
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Goal! 86 min: Brighton 4-2 Tottenham (Davies)
Udogie makes progress down the left for Spurs … and wins a corner. The ball is floated over by Porro, and Davies heads in emphatically at the far post! 4-2! Could they? Almost imperceptibly, Postecoglou stirs on the sidelines.
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83 min: Kulusevski goes down after what was a nasty challenge by Dunk, who took a poor touch, and then dove in, knowing Kulusevski was about to nick the ball away. Dunk is booked. Postecoglou makes his displeasure known on the sidelines. Still, Spurs are on the board.
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Goal! 80 min: Brighton 4-1 Tottenham (Veliz)
Alejo Veliz, another man who crept off the bench about 10 minutes ago, gets his first goal for Spurs!
Kulusevski wins it back from Dunk, who fouls his opponent in the process. The ball drops to Son, who squares for Veliz, and the young Argentinian tucks the ball away. And that is the something that Tottenham needed …
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79 min: I mean, five or six-nil, that would be a horribly demoralising result for Tottenham. They need something here. Even if it’s just 10 minutes of solid defending.
77 min: João Pedro, who has been imperious, looks for Ferguson making a pacy run on his right. The Brazilian is fouled by Porro in the process. On commentary Andy Townsend says that’s a yellow card, and I fancy he’s right. But Porro gets away with it.
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Goal! 75 min: Brighton 4-0 Tottenham (João Pedro pen)
This is a drubbing. Tottenham have been totally outclassed.
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Penalty to Brighton!
Lo Celso, who came on a few minutes ago, tries a silly tackle on Ferguson from behind in the penalty area. That’s a clear penalty.
Gil is also on for Spurs, with Richarlison and Sarr now having gone off.
Meanwhile, the VAR checks the offside before the penalty is confirmed. But it is confirmed.
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68 min: Sir James of Milner is taken off by De Zerbi, along with Welbeck. Evan Ferguson and Jakub Moder come on. Moder is promptly booked for … not sure what, to be fair.
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The Ecuador international Estupinan, who’s been on the field less than 20 minutes, receives the ball outside the area on the Brighton left, thanks to a quickly-taken corner by Milner. He takes one touch and then decides that smashing the ball as hard as he can in the direction of goal is the most sensible option … and the ball fairly whizzes into the far top corner from 20-odd yards, beyond an utterly helpless Vicario in the Spurs goal. What a sweet, sweet strike. “I’m back!” I think Estupinan says into the camera as the celebrations unfold … as well as, I think, a message for his mother. That is surely game, set and match. And what scenes at the Amex.
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GOAL! 63 min: Brighton 3-0 Tottenham (Estupinan)
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! GOL! GOL! GOL! WHAT a goal!
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61 min: ANOTHER offside goal for Richarlison! Kulusevski drives infield from around halfway on the right wing. He slides a good pass, splitting the defence, into the feet of the Brazilian forward. Richarlison belts a powerful low shot past Steele … but he’s offside!
60 min: Brighton have looked less fluent in attack but suddenly remind Spurs of the danger with João Pedro loping on to a pass pinged from midfield. Again Tottenham manage to get goal side and the move breaks down.
59 min: Change for Brighton: Carlos Baleba on, Buonanotte off.
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57 min: Free-kick for Brighton. Gross floats it in from the right. It falls for Dunk in a forest of legs … he tries a right-footed shot but skews it wide.
55 min: Tottenham have raised their game. Udogie is now bearing down on goal from the left flank and has two bites at the cherry but both are blocked. Calls for a penalty. Nothing doing. Welbeck immediately breaks for Brighton … Spurs manage to funnel back and cover. Richarlison is booked for pushing João Pedro off the ball.
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54 min: Richarlison is in yet again! Steele saves, but that time he was offside again.
53 min: Brighton cough up possession in trying to play out from the back, Son seizing on a poor pass by Gilmour. It’s transferred to the feet of Richarlison, who looks for the same corner he found a few minutes ago with a low, powerful shot from inside the box … but this time, when the goal would have stood, it flashes wide of the post!
52 min: JAMES MILNER wins a tackle in midfield for Brighton.
51 min: “Watching the match late night from India,” emails Amal. “I was astonished by Milner’s play and being a Man Utd supporter I was wondering how close he was to Ryan Giggs’ Premier League appearances. This is Milner’s 631st game and Giggsy had 632. Barry is at the top with 653. Milner is soon to be 38 and can probably play for maybe a couple more years in a PL team. It would be safe to say that in this day and age of transfers, whatever record he reaches will never be broken.”
48 min: Brighton win a corner. Dunk and Hojbjerg are pushing and shoving at the far post while they wait for the delivery. The referee has a word. Dunk eventually holds his hand out to shake, which Hojbjerg does, while laughing. A funny little exchange. Brighton immediately win another corner but Spurs manage to clear.
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46 min: Richarlison is immediately played in by Kulusevski. He buries the finish in the corner with a minimum of fuss. The Spurs fans roar! But he’s offside.
Second half kick-off!
Estupinan comes on for Brighton, in place of Igor.
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Brighton have a two-goal cushion, says Kelly Somers on Amazon Prime Video.
Has anyone actually made some hilarious two-goal cushions that fun-loving football fans could put on their sofas?
Half-time reading:
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Half-time! Brighton 2-0 Tottenham
Son swerves a shot wide for Spurs and that is half-time.
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45 min +3: Milner muscles Kulusevski off the ball and shepherds the ball into midfield. I may have mentioned this before, but Milner is everywhere. He is really helping Brighton to boss this match. Billy Gilmour has been good too, in a less obvious way, the glue that holds the Brighton midfield together.
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45 min +2: We will have a minimum of five added minutes.
45 min +1: Richarlison hits the post for Spurs! It’s all going on.
He hits a shot first-time from the edge of the box and it glances Steele’s right-hand post.
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44 min: A truly horrible back pass by Tottenham’s Porro accidentally plays in João Pedro one on one with the keeper!
The Brazilian attempts a dinked finish, having taken the ball a smidgen wider than he’d have liked to, and Vicario manages to get a desperate glove to his effort, and just succeed in keeping it from dropping in the far post!
Porro, running back and praying, holds his hand up in apology to his teammates and probably the fans, too.
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42 min: Buonanotte takes a needless booking for failing to retreat at a free-kick.
“Spurs fans must be so relieved that Buonanotte’s goal was disallowed. It would surely have been ‘Good night!’ Tottenham.”
That was from the irrepressible Peter Oh.
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41 min: João Pedro goes haring after a ball launched from the back. Royal does well to get back onside and cover. Still, Spurs are being comprehensively outclassed here.
40 min: Everyone (AKA three people on email) is saying Kulusevski should have been red-carded for that foul on Welbeck. Seems a fair shout. I haven’t read the relevant law recently, if I am being honest, but yes. Lock him up and throw away the key!
38 min: This is end to end stuff! It’s the feast of festive football we all hoped for!
Spurs attack, and Son has a shot blocked from close range in a rare moment of discomfort for the Brighton defence.
37 min: Disallowed goal for Buonanotte! Brighton construct another fluent attack. Welbeck bends a cross over and Buonanotte adeptly meets it on the half-volley, first-time, and finishing unerringly. But he had just strayed offside.
35 min: Brighton break quickly and there is suddenly loads of space to attack. Welbeck sends an early ball over from the right wing, looking for João Pedro. It’s intercepted, then Brighton want a free-kick for a pass back by Emerson Royal, but they don’t get it.
“He couldn’t have meant that if he tried, believe me,” says Andy Townsend on co-commentary.
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33 min: Porro drills a wonderful, accurate long pass out of defence looking to use the pace of Johnson. Igor manages to snuff out the danger.
32 min: Milner’s on fire. Not literally, but now he has a sight of goal from 20 yards or so … he curls a stunning effort which looks destined to nestle inside Vicario’s goal, but it rebounds back off an upright! So close!
30 min: The Brighton fans, as you would expect, are enjoying this and making plenty of noise. Postecoglou stands in his technical area, assessing the action, hands plunged into his navy blue coat. A big team talk coming up.
27 min: Udogie makes inroads for Spurs into a crowded penalty area. Kulusevski then has a touch and lays it back for Son, who clumps a shot from about 18 yards that takes a deflection and goes out for a corner.
Nothing doing from the corner, but Spurs stay upfield and Brennan Johnson whips a brilliant low cross from the Spurs right – it flashes across the six-yard box – and although Richarlison is in the vicinity at the far post, he can’t react quick enough to get on the end of it.
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25 min: Brighton have had eight shots to Tottenham’s one. This has been a pasting so far, even if Tottenham did stage one significant attack in the first minute.
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Goal! 23 min: Brighton 2-0 Tottenham (João Pedro pen)
The Brazil international slides the spot-kick past Vicario, who guesses the wrong way. I would say that João Pedro waited for the keeper to move, but judging by the replay he’d already picked his spot. Anyway, it’s a goal. Two-nil.
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22 min: Penalty to Brighton!
Kulusevski is bang to rights. He’s booked for pulling back Welbeck.
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20 min: Woodwork! Or metalwork! Or whatever the posts are made of! Gross swings in a corner for Brighton. Van Hecke rises highest at the far post and powers a header which crashes back off the upright. There are huge appeals for a penalty and VAR is having a look … a pull by Kulusevski on Welbeck who was looking to get on to the rebound. The referee, Jarred Gillett, is going to his screen …
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18 min: Milner is everywhere! Spurs are passing the ball about around the edge of the Brighton box. The former Liverpool man skips into the thick of the action, dispossesses an opponent and slides a pass back to Steele. Appreciative applause comes from the home fans. Postecoglou will be warming up the hairdryer because Tottenham have been largely second-best.
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16 min: Milner is at it again for Brighton, making another good run and testing the Tottenham back line. João Pedro then takes a good ball floated over from the right wing, does a couple of stepovers, and cracks a shot that is beaten out by Vicario.
That’s a cracking finish by Jack Hinshelwood, who takes a touch just inside the box, and belts a shot with loads of power into the roof of the net, virtually straight through Vicario. It’s James Milner that injects the momentum into the move initially: he makes a dart on the Brighton left, and then his surging decoy run opens the space up for João Pedro to drive infield, skirting along the edge of the penalty area and daring one of the defenders to bring him down. João Pedro finds Hinshelwood with a crisp pass to feet, lurking in a bit of space among an unsettled Spurs defence, and he smashes the ball into the net with gusto.
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Goal! 11 min: Brighton 1-0 Tottenham (Hinshelwood)
BOOM!
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6 min: Brighton pass their way into the Spurs box as they keep up the pressure … Buonanotte initially has a shot blocked, but the ball drops nicely for Welbeck, who sidefoots a low attempted finish looking for the far corner. It looks every inch a goal, but Vicario anticipates the shot superbly and palms the ball out to safety, diving to his left. Welbeck looks a bit shocked at the quality of the save. Vicario was half down on the turf after reacting to the earlier effort by Buonanotte, and did phenomenally well to get back up and make the save.
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5 min: Chance for Brighton! Welbeck plays a neat one-two with Gilmour in the Spurs box and has a sight of goal from an angle on the Seagulls’ left. He forces a good save from Vicario with a powerful shot that’s tipped over.
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4 min: We’re going to see lots of Gangnam-style pressing this evening, as an MOTD pundit once erroneously called it.
3 min: Brennan Johnson is fouled by Igor, just outside the Brighton box. It looks like Porro is going to hit the free-kick … and he does, but straight into the wall.
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1 min: A good ball by Kulusevski, angled low into the feet of Richarlison up front, creates space immediately for Tottenham. Son has a speculative shot when the ball is half-cleared but fails to get hold of it. A positive start for Spurs anyway.
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First half kick-off!
Allez!
“Pretty nearly as far away as possible - Dunedin, New Zealand,” writes Michael Albert. “Unfortunately, also wet here though it’s not cold. Love these 0830 starts.”
Welcome, Michael.
“There is every chance we are in for a treat,” says the Amazon Prime commentator, Conor McNamara. Famous last words?
Right, thanks for those. Good to hear from everyone. The teams are lining up out on the pitch, and it’s nearly show time.
“We’re watching Brighton v Tottenham from the beach in Barbados - pretty far flung!” writes Sian. “My boyfriend, a Brighton supporter, predicts 7-0 to Brighton. I’m an Arsenal fan and waiting to watch them thrash West Ham later. We’ll be following along with the live blog.”
Alejandro Polo, “Peruvian living in Kentucky”, emails: “Hey, you said no emails from London, here we go! 2.30pm the game here, hope Spurs continue with this run of form!”
“Emailing from San Francisco where it is drizzling and gray,” writes Mark Lewis. “Possibly much like London … exactly how I am expecting this match to be.”
Controversial.
“Greetings from the exotic land of America!” writes Justin Madson. “Is there any team in the league that isn’t having some sort of injury crisis? Feels like every team is having at least a few players unable to play. Good thing Fifa is only finding more games for them to stuff into the calendar.”
“On the Ange bandwagon from Sydney,” writes JD. “Love the guy’s way of playing and how he supports his players.”
“An Israeli Spurs (and an FC Cologne season ticket holder) fan here,” writes Yinon.
”It is so nice to finally have a manager to be proud of and a recruiting team that manages to find jewels before others clubs, just as Brighton has been doing for the last years. And with Ange all Spurs fans finally feel the club is going in the right direction after stuttering since Poch’s last season.
“This exciting title challenge might come a bit too early for this squad, but … who knows if we will manage to survive until Sonny (as well as Sarr and Bissouma) come back from their international duties (and we maybe manage to bring a CB and a forward during January) we might just be primed for a push at the business end of the season.”
“Hello from not-London, Luke!” writes Gerry from Queens, NYC. “My wife studied at University of Sussex and so is hoping for a Brighton win to get them back on track after an inconsistent few games, but I need Richarlison to score – ideally several times – to have a chance in my fantasy match-up this week. So let’s hope for a 4-3 Brighton win but with a Richarlison hat-trick for Spurs.”
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De Zerbi speaks! “I think it has been a good experience, in the first six months of the season … we played 26 games, I thiink we played better than last season, we did a good result … we could do better, we have five-six less points on the table, but I think we can be happy.
“We have some problem in the squad with players’ injuries. We have to play anyway with our style, to try to win the game.
“It’s a very tough challenge, a very tough moment [with the injuries] … but that is football for Brighton now, and other teams, especially if you compete in Europe. We have to be focused on what we have to do.”
It’s 22 games with no clean sheet, says the interviewer. But is it? “Four games in a row playing with clean sheet in the Europa League,” De Zerbi points out. “I am really sad, because we are conceding too many goals. Sometimes we concede a goal in the bad way, sometimes because of the opponent, sometimes because our DNA is to attack … we have to find the balance, and the right way to defend better.”
“Monterey California far enough?” emails Paul Maslin. “Of course I happen to sitting in a pub near Hyde Park. So I guess I am a London person. If Ange can get four points from this game and Bournemouth Sunday with this depleted roster. The sky is pretty close to the limit!”
Brighton’s Lewis Dunk speaks: “Two teams that like to play football, two teams that like to press high … we’ve had a lot of injuries … but that’s what our squad’s for.”
Dejan Kulusevski of Tottenham also has a natter: “Two teams that want to play the ball. They have a very good team, very good coach … They are doing something fantastic that’s not done my many other teams.”
Ange Postcoglou has a chat with Amazon Prime, and first up is asked about what he did on Christmas Day:
“We had the day off which was pretty rare … I was home alone. My family went off on holiday and forgot about me … but it was all right, it was nice.
“It’s always a tricky period [around Christmas] … you’ve got a lot of games … we’ve got a well-chronicled injury list, as do Brighton, to be fair.”
Next up, Ange is told that Tottenham will have the best away record in the league should they win tonight: “It’s always a good test of a team’s resilience and character … we’ve had some good tests away from home … home or away, I think our attitude is to try and play our football. For the most part, it’s worked OK.”
And what about Richarlison’s good form? “Richie, part of his problem, start of the year he was physically struggling a bit … he was carrying a bit … we had the operation and since then he’s looked a better player in terms of his freedom of movement.
“We’ve tried not to make excuses. Our performances have been pretty good. Our results have been pretty good. Hopefully we’ll get through this spell and get our players back … It’s a new year’s resolution now to keep everyone healthy.”
Kick-off is just over 30 minutes away.
Why not email me, especially if you’re reading from some far-flung, exciting place. Basically anywhere that’s not, let’s say, London.*
*Emails from London will also be carefully considered.
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Meanwhile, here’s David Hytner’s report regarding that injury to Cristian Romero:
Below, courtesy of Steph Fincham, is Brighton’s festive report card, including some thoughts on VAR that I am sure we can all get behind.
“Our first time in Europe has been absolutely incredible – we won our “group of death” despite looking like rabbits in the headlights in our first game. To draw at Marseille and win at Ajax, and then beat Marseille at home was remarkable, and we’re into the knockouts. Everyone has worked so hard to achieve that progress: Lewis Dunk is critical; João Pedro, Igor, Van Hecke and Adingra have really hit the ground running. Gilmour (big quality, big attitude, says Roberto De Zerbi) improves every game, and a huge shout out to 18-year-old Jack Hinshelwood who has seized his chance after a depressing number of first-team injuries. Just hope Mitoma’s injury isn’t too bad after Thursday’s annoying draw with Palace.
Happy with the manager? Over the moon with De Zerbi. He says we’re not a “top, top team” yet and that maybe he isn’t a “top, top coach” but we’re on such an exciting journey: the players clearly love working with him and he seems to make everyone better.
We will finish … 6th, so long as we don’t get more injuries.
VAR – keep it, tweak it or get rid? Get rid of it. It’s become so boring listening to debates about where the system has gone wrong every week. We had three apologies from the PGMOL last season after VAR mistakes, and there’s really nothing worse than to be celebrating a goal only to be told minutes later that a toenail was offside in the buildup.”
Teams
Injury-hit Brighton are without Kaoru Mitoma and Simon Adingra among others – De Zerbi said this week that they “have more or less 10 injured players”. There are four changes to the team that drew at Palace just before Christmas with Jason Steele, Facundo Buonanotte, James Milner and Danny Welbeck coming into the side.
For Tottenham, similarly injury-hit, there is no Oliver Skipp or Cristian Romero. Skipp, they say, has a knock but will be fit for the next match while Romero is out for four to five weeks with a hamstring strain. Destiny Udogie and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg are the additions to the side that beat Everton.
Brighton (4-2-3-1): Steele; Hinshelwood, Van Hecke, Dunk, Igor; Gilmour, Milner; Buonanotte, Gross, João Pedro; Welbeck. Substitutes: Verbruggen, Dahoud, Lallana, Moder, Baleba, Ferguson, Estupinan, Boaitey, Barrington.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): Vicario; Porro, Udogie, Davies, Emerson; Sarr, Hojbjerg; Johnson, Kulusevski, Son; Richarlison. Substitutes: Gil, Dier, Lo Celso, Forster, Phillips, Veliz, Alonso, Donley, Dorrington.
Referee: Jarred Gillett (Australia)
TEAM NEWS! 🚨 Here's tonight's starting XI to face @SpursOfficial in the #PL. 📝
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) December 28, 2023
📲 https://t.co/S3j1TIeLz3 // #BHAFC 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/wHLqebY27v
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Preamble
Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs project was wobbling for a while back there. But after winning their past three Premier League matches against Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Everton, in that order, Tottenham are now feeling suitably festive and front-foot Angeball is very much in fashion.
Roberto de Zerbi’s Brighton, meanwhile, have hit a touch of turbulence on the domestic front. They are winless in three even though Danny Welbeck’s stupendous, old-school header at Crystal Palace earned them a point four days before Christmas to generate a smattering of seasonal cheer.
Not to mention the fact that the Europa League win against Marseille a week before that – ‘the best moment in my time here’ said De Zerbi – saw them impressively top their Europa League group. In the grand scheme these are both clubs on the up, but a Spurs victory would see Brighton’s recent blip threaten to turn into a slump.
The Premier League’s packed festive schedule™ regularly draws the ire of managers but the good news for fans is that matches of association football simply keep on coming. Tonight’s fixture between two progressive, positive teams promises to be fun viewing – and it kicks off at 7.30pm UK time.
