[Albion] Tottenham Hotspur vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[Paulie Gualtieri]

The pressure from their fans to get on us when we have our foot on the ball will hopefully be their undoing, they haven’t got the midfield to compete with ours

 

[Gabbiano]

Strangely more confident for this one than Bournemouth away. Their crowd will insist they play on the front foot. March and Mitoma will exploit the space at the back.

If they play a 3-4-3 as expected, March and Mitoma should have lots of space to exploit behind Porro and Perisic.

 

[albionfan37]

If they play 2 in the middle they’re fu cked

 

[Lindfield by the Pond]

Excited. When was the last time we went to a big club as favorites to win? We may sometimes think we could sneak a win or a 0:0 but today we are going certain that we are the better team.
3:0 defeat then.

Exactly. We are favourites at Tottenham as well

 

[swindonseagull]

On the way

 

[GT49er]

Must do better

• However, they have only won two of their 12 league fixtures this season against the other teams currently in the top half of the table.

That doesn't seem to tally with the Sky article referred to on NSC yesterday -

Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton are favourites to beat Man Utd in FA Cup semi-final meeting

Lewis Jones explains why Brighton should be taken seriously in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley vs Manchester United on Sunday; Brightons aggressive style of play, performance data and betting market confidence will see them go off favourites to beat their illustrious opponents

www.skysports.com

"In their last 14 matches across all competitions against Arsenal, Man City, Spurs, Man Utd, Newcastle, Chelsea and Liverpool. Brighton have won eight of those fixtures."
Wonder which one is right?

 

[brighton_tom]

Anyone heading upto London with a spare ticket? Not sure how it would logistically work seeing as they’re likely digital tickets but would happily make use of it if there’s a way. Am in London today.

 

[RustyKent]

Big game today, I can't believe that I'm expecting 3 points against Spurs. Bring it on. UTA!

 

[Mustafa II]

This genuinely is a great time to play them... and from their perspective it's a terrible time to play us.

I'm feeling optimistic, but at the same time they do have some really good players, despite their current weaknesses.

Would I take a draw right now? No. Think we can win this today and three points here would be MASSIVE.

 

[Oh_aye]

Spurs are a rich man’s Brentford. Park the bus and hoof it to a striker and hope that if he can’t get a shot away that he can throw himself to the floor and win a set piece. Spurs are up there with Brentford in terms of set piece goals. Let’s hope we manage to score quite a few today because I worry about the threat of set pieces!

Bit unfair on Brentford that...

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Tottenham v Albion

PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Date: Saturday 8th April 2023
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistants: Darren Cann, James Mainwaring
Fourth Official: Jeremy Simpson
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Additional VAR: Daniel Robathan
​

TEAM NEWS

Tottenham forward Richarlison is not expected to return from a muscle injury until next weekend.

Lucas Moura begins a three-match ban, while Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Ben Davies, Emerson Royal and Ryan Sessegnon are all still out.

Brighton's Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo are fit despite coming off with injuries against Bournemouth.

Adam Lallana, Tariq Lamptey, Jakub Moder and Jeremy Sarmiento are all absent.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Brighton ended a run of eight consecutive away defeats versus Tottenham in all competitions with a 1-0 Premier League win on 16 April last season.
• Following their victory at the Amex Stadium earlier this season, Spurs are aiming to record a second Premier League double over Brighton. They beat them home and away in 2018-19.

Tottenham

• Tottenham have won just one of their last six matches in all competitions.
• They have 50 points, one fewer than at this stage of last season when they took 20 points out of a possible 27 in their final nine games to finish fourth. Their only defeat during that run came at home to Brighton.
• Spurs have conceded 41 league goals in 2022-23, which is already one more than they did in the whole of last season.
• They are on a club-record run of 24 home league fixtures without a draw since a 2-2 result versus Liverpool in December 2021.
• Harry Kane has scored 11 goals in his last 13 league games at home.
• Kane has scored nine goals in 11 appearances for Tottenham against Brighton. The Seagulls could become the ninth team he reaches double figures against in his career.

Albion

• Brighton have lost only one of their 15 matches in all competitions in 2023, a 1-0 Premier League home defeat versus Fulham in February (W10, D4).
• They are one short of equalling their club top-flight record of 14 wins in a season, set in the 42-game 1980-81 campaign.
• Albion can also equal the club top-flight record of eight consecutive away games unbeaten, set from February to September 2020 under Graham Potter.
• The Seagulls have scored 51 league goals this season. Their top-flight record is 54, set in 1980-81.
• However, they have only won two of their 12 league fixtures this season against the other teams currently in the top half of the table.
• Kaoru Mitoma is the first Brighton player to register a goal or assist in five consecutive Premier League appearances.

Roberto De Zerbi's Tottenham Press Conference

In the prezza, Dezernenby is so impressive. He is immune to being dragged into explaining 'how important' this and that is. You can see that he sets out to win every game, expects to win every game and prepares the team to win every game. And he does this without getting pissy and techy (which is what I would be like if people asked me questions like those).

I will leave you with some questions.

How important is it that we get something from the game today?
Given that we can't beat any of the teams above us in the league, how important is is that we stop the rot?
How important is Lewis Dunk to the team?
How does it feel to be unbeaten away in the EPL since Christmas?
How importa......owwww. You just punched me in the face. How important was that?

 

[portslade seagull]

Kane will probably fall over a worm cast in his desperation to win a penalty

 

[dstanman]

No doubt Kane will cheat his way to a penalty

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Through to the next round here lads, no excuses

I have a feeling this game will be settled by penalties ...

 

[The Wizard]

Only nagging doubt I have in my mind is if we afford them a few chances like we did Bournemouth Kane will gobble them up, that wanker always scores against us.

Probably dive to win a nonsensical penalty and smash that top bins as well.

 

[Dick Head]

So excited

were loose

 

[The Grockle]

Going into a game on such good form and with all this confidence worries me. I'd take a point now, today will be tough and we'll need to be at our best to get a result.

 

[FatSuperman]

"In their last 14 matches across all competitions against Arsenal, Man City, Spurs, Man Utd, Newcastle, Chelsea and Liverpool. Brighton have won eight of those fixtures."
Wonder which one is right?

Some of those ‘last 14’ are from last season.

Hope I’ve not been wooshed

 

[doogie004]

Hopefully tuning in from hurghada if I can get to tv room first bloody Germans get up early for that too

 

[GT49er]

Some of those ‘last 14’ are from last season.

Hope I’ve not been wooshed

Yes, of course they are - but it isn't easy to convert 2 in 12 to 8 in 14 is it? There's got to be a discrepancy somewhere!