What a terrific game this was. A non stop blur of action, effort and skill. Plus an awful lot of mistakes. It was played at a pace which was at times ridiculous, the ball spinning from one team to the other with barely time to draw breath. That it was won by a goal but seconds from the final whistle was typical. As Tottenham substitute Brennan Johnson thumped home the last gasp winner, this was drama at its most nail-biting.
Brighton’s manager Roberto De Zerbi was absent from the fray, recovering from dental surgery. Though for him root canal work would have been preferable to this most painful of defeats, the points snatched from his team’s grasp at the death.
Not that he would not have been allowed to make his considerable presence felt: he was serving another touchline ban. But his team played as he would have wished, with real ambition and effort. Albeit enjoying the good fortune of encountering a Spurs side erring towards the frustratingly wasteful.
Both sides had been strengthened by first choice players returning from the Asian and African Cups. But Ange Postecoglou preferred to keep Son Heung-min on the bench, while De Zerbi’s line up included Kaoru Mitoma.
And it was Brighton who quickly made the first incursion. Pressing relentlessly, they won the ball off James Maddison inside the Spurs half. It was played forward to Danny Welbeck, whose heels were rapped by Micky van de Ven. For once VAR did not take issue with the referee’s speedy decision, and Pascal Gross scored from the spot.
Spurs, though, are not a team to lie back and contemplate defeat. They poured forward at pace. Maddison and Richarlison constantly created chances for each other. The problem was, largely thanks to the presence of Jason Steele in the Brighton goal, neither could take advantage.