Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to continue their good form when they host Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls defeated M23 derby rivals Crystal Palace 4-1 last Saturday. The Lilywhites blew two one-goal leads in a thrilling 2-2 draw with Everton.
Preview (Tottenham Hotspur vs. Brighton & Hove Albion)
Fiery red Although former Everton player and Tottenham attacker Richardson seemed especially dejected after scoring twice against his old haunt last weekend, his Lilywhites colleagues’ faces were as dejected at full time on Merseyside. After an unconventional Jack Harrison equalizer in the first half, the Brazil international beat Jordan Pickford with two brilliant finishes. Four minutes into injury time, another set piece saw Tottenham defeated. Jarrad Branthwaite nodded in a last-minute equalizer from close range.
Guglielmo Vicario, whom Everton was repeatedly attempting to corner, felt that Harrison was illegally impeding him. As a result, the Toffees’ first goal was surrounded by controversy. In his post-game press conference, Ange Postecoglou questioned the officials’ “reluctance” to call fouls. The North London crop suffered a similar fate in their FA Cup loss to Manchester City. Later in the day, Aston Villa crushed Sheffield United 5-0. It caused Tottenham to drop to fifth place in the Premier League table. Despite this, they are only two points behind the Lions. They will pass with a victory before Unai Emery’s team plays Manchester United on Sunday.
The Lilywhites supporters will not be pleased to learn that they have only won one of their last four games while giving up seven goals. Moreover, they haven’t maintained a Premier League clean sheet at home since October. Nevertheless, their last four top-flight matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have all resulted in victories. Despite their well-documented unreliability, Brighton responded well to their terrifying 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Luton Town.
Team News
Tottenham should be buoyed by the return of captain Son Heung-min and former Brighton player Yves Bissouma for the Brighton match, as South Korea and Mali have been eliminated from the Asian Cup and Africa Cup of Nations, respectively. However, Bissouma will require a once-over after he miraculously survived malaria during the continental tournament. Giovani Lo Celso’s thigh issue may resolve in time for the Argentine to play as well. Manor Solomon is still under the care of the medical staff after experiencing a setback.
Despite some encouraging performances from the RB Leipzig loanee in recent weeks, Son’s return will put Timo Werner’s spot in the starting lineup in jeopardy. Dejan Kulusevski, on the other hand, should be called back to the starting lineup in favor of Brendan Johnson, who played for just over an hour at Goodison Park. This weekend, Brighton should welcome back to domestic action Japan’s Kaoru Mitoma, an explosive attacker who made a comeback from an ankle injury to play in his team’s final two Asian Cup matches.
But fellow winger Simon Adingra is getting ready to play for Ivory Coast against Nigeria in the AFCON final, while James Milner (thigh) and knee victims Julio Enciso and Joel Veltman are still out of the running. Ansu Fati, an attacker on loan from Barcelona, returned from a calf injury late in the crushing of Palace, but it would be surprising to see De Zerbi make any changes to a winning team unless there’s a chance that Danny Welbeck would move up front in place of Evan Ferguson.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
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