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Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Brighton: Son and Kane give Spurs all three points

NEVER A DOUBT

Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton & Hove Albion - Premier League Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur grabbed all three points in a critical game as Brighton made its way to North London.

Looking to put the past two draws against relegation-fighting teams aside, it took over 80 minutes for Spurs to find the game-winner. That, of course, came by way of Harry Kane, I mean who else would you expect to put the team on their backs?

But first, we should look at the whole game and how we got from our butts being clenched in fear to relaxing and cracking open that liquid courage to celebrate.

Spurs grabbed the game's first goal when Son Heung-min delivered a brilliant strike into the side netting with a curler. Not only did Son snap out of his funk, but he also reached the 100-goal milestone and became the first Asian player in the Premier League to accomplish such a thing. Congrats Sonny!!!

As we know, a lead for Spurs means chaos ensues and Brighton did just that when Lewis Dunk had a powerful header go into the back of the net on a corner.

That was the game's lone goal for the Seagulls that counted.

Before that, Kaoru Mitoma received a perfect lob pass to get through the back line of Spurs, and had the ball not touched off his upper bicep area, the Seagulls would have tied the game quickly after the Son finish. Eventually ruled for a handball, it would be the first of VAR’s decisions going against the south coast side

Danny Welbeck, the former Arsenal man, believed he had the goal to give Brighton the lead in the second half. But, Alexis Mac Allister saw the ball hit his armpit area and result in a handball ruling against the Seagulls.

Things only escalated as the touchlines got into shouting matches with Cristian Stellini the lone man to not be involved. However, both Italian bosses (Roberto De Zerbi and Stellini) were sent off for failure to control their touchlines.

That meant RYAN MASON TIME.

Brighton had one final VAR ruling go against them as Mitoma seemed to draw a PK on a poor challenge from Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in the box. Not ruled, Spurs knew they needed to make the most of the helpful calls and they did just that.

Arnaut Danjuma made way for the first sub of the game and made an instant impact with his high press, resulting in a poor ball from goalkeeper Jason Steele in the middle of the pitch.

Mitoma tried a flick to get around Cristian Romero, but the defender won the ball and made a pass to Son. Continuing the quick break, Son found Højbjerg down the right flank with Danjuma running towards the far post. Making his way down the flank and into the box, Højbjerg cut back his pass and set up a perfect pass to the edge of the box for Kane to blast a first-touch shot into the goal.

Grabbing the deciding goal with 10 minutes left in the game, it was all about holding on and not letting yet another late lead disappear.

The Lilywhites did just that through countless attempts from Brighton, giving the team a 2-1 win and keeping them within distance of Manchester United and Newcastle United for Champions League football.

NOTES

  • Kane and Son to the rescue... just as we expected
  • VAR saved Spurs this time
  • Stellini being sent off means Mason will have a chance to run the team for the game against Bournemouth. All that is asked is to make some changes in the Starting XI and not subbing until 15 minutes left
  • Spurs fans were singing their hearts out for Mauricio Pochettino