Toothless Tottenham slump to Brighton defeat amid Kane absence

Trossard.Brighton.TEAMtalk

Tottenham sorely lacked the firepower Harry Kane provides after a lacklustre performance resulted in a costly 1-0 defeat to Brighton.

Brighton almost struck inside three minutes, but Pascal Gross’ off-balance effort struck the woodwork after fine work from Alexis Mac Allister in the build-up.

Tottenham were lacking a cutting edge without their talisman Harry Kane, something that could not be said for the hosts when they took the lead in the 17th minute.

Gross was set free down the right before squaring to Leandro Trossard. The Belgian side-footed the ball into the bottom corner despite the close attentions of Ben Davies to put his side one up.

Spurs finally began to grow into the game around the half hour mark, and Steven Bergwijn came close to levelling the scores with a low drive that whistled past the post.

Lewis Dunk then came close to doubling the Seagulls’ advantage from a corner.

The centre-half rose highest to meet the delivery, but his effort was headed to safety by Gareth Bale while retreating on to the goalline.

Carlos Vinicius was introduced from the bench to begin the second-half as Jose Mourinho sought a greater attacking threat.

The Brazilian almost made an immediate impact, but his downward header from a corner was parried to safety by Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

The anticipated one-way traffic did not materialise, however. Brighton continued to push for a second, and but for the intervention of Tanguy Ndombele, could’ve done just that through Neal Maupay.

Bale was replaced by Lucas Moura on the hour mark, but even he struggled to impact proceedings.

Spurs finally forced a save of note from Sanchez heading into the final 15 minutes – Vinicius’ long-range drive that was expertly tipped round the post.

Aaron Connolly then saw a golden opportunity to put the game to bed miraculously blocked by Toby Alderweireld.

The Belgian was the last line of defence after Hugo Lloris had rushed the ball carrier, but Alderweireld produced a piece of defensive brilliance to deny Brighton when the ball was eventually squared to Connolly.

That moment of magic would ultimately prove to be the highlight of Tottenham’s day as they slipped to a costly 1-0 defeat at the AMEX.