Brighton and Hove Albion 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 Talking Points from the game
Tottenham Hotspur traveled to the AMEX Stadium on Saturday, with their season hanging in the balance. Mauricio Pochettino’s side was coming into the game on the back of a crushing 2-7 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, in midweek. Spurs were also losing ground on Liverpool and Manchester City in the Premier League and were 6th in the table before the start of the game. Their opponents, Brighton & Hove Albion, had just 1 win in the Premier League ahead of the tie and Tottenham were expected to make short work of the Seagulls.
Mauricio Pochettino had an almost full-strength team to call upon, with the exceptions of Serge Aurier, who was suspended and the injured duo of Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso. The Argentinean, as such, named a strong team for the tie.
Tottenham Hotspur Starting XI: Hugo Lloris; Moussa Sissoko, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Ben Davies; Eric Dier, Tanguy Ndombele, Christian Eriksen; Erik Lamela, Harry Kane, Son Heung-min.
Contrary to the expectations, it was the home side who started the game stronger, when Neal Maupay capitalized on a Hugo Lloris mistake and gave his team the lead. Aaron Connolly shocked the visitors by doubling the lead in the 32nd minute and the game went into the break with the score 2-0.
In the second half, Tottenham tried to find the breakthrough, but the Seagulls continued their inspired form. Connolly scored his second of the night in the 65th minute, which turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for the visitors, as Brighton won the game 3-0. Here are 5 talking points from the game.
#5 Tottenham failed to recover from the early blow
Tottenham Hotspur arrived at the game with their confidence hitting rock bottom. Mauricio Pochettino’s men had won just 1 of their last 5 games in all competitions. Besides the humiliation in the UEFA Champions League, Spurs had already exited the Carabao Cup and were also losing ground on Premier League leaders Liverpool.
While many expected Tottenham to hit back against Brighton, Pochettino’s men were shocked when they went behind as early as the 3rd minute. It was a sign of things to come, as the visitors never really recovered.