Tottenham 0 Brighton 1: Antonio Conte suffers huge top four blow as Leandro Trossard scores deserved last-gasp winner

GRAHAM POTTER turned into the English Simeone as his Brighton spoilers threw the Champions League race wide open again.

The Seagulls boss took his tactics straight from the Atletico Madrid playbook to leave exasperated Spurs rueing three crucial  points dropped in their quest to secure a top four finish.

And Antonio Conte was left tearing his hair out in frustration as Leandro Trossard’s 89th minute goal sucked the very life out of his suffering team.

One week after ripping up the form book to triumph at Arsenal, the visitors were at it again with another doggedly determined display.

And just like Spanish Champions Atletico, they used every trick in the book to stop their superstar opponents from performing at their peak.

Having scored 25 goals in their previous seven League games,  shot-shy Spurs were unable to force even a single save out of Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez.

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And now they will be worrying that they have allowed all that momentum to slip from their grasp after this lacklustre performance.

This was Brighton’s first win at Tottenham since 1981 and means they have not lost any of their six Premier League visits to London this season.

They were taking their time right from the kick-off and were more than happy to let Spurs pass it around at the back without allowing themselves to be drawn out of position.

Just as at Arsenal last week, they were clearly looking to frustrate their opponents and take any early sting out of the game.

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But Kane made it clear that he was not going to stand for any nonsense when he barged through the back of Lewis Dunk after the Brighton skipper had tried to block him off.

Yet even a flurry of Son corners could not produce the opening Spurs were seeking and it was the visitors who looked the likelier to open the scoring.

Enock Mwepu, scorer of last week’s Emirates winner, almost struck again when his 21st minute shot was deflected just wide by Sergio Reguilon. 

Joel Veltman drew another crucial block from the resulting corner as Spurs struggled to impose themselves on proceedings.

And when Veltman got a flick on another Pascal Gross corner, it was only the knee of Rodrigo Bentancur which prevented Alexis Mac Allister from turning the ball in at the back post.

It was difficult to believe this was the same Spurs team who had been burying their opponents under an avalanche of goals in recent weeks.

And their hard to please supporters certainly weren’t slow in making it clear that they weren’t happy with what they were seeing.

Their mood certainly wasn’t helped by a series of niggly fouls by both teams which constantly interrupted the flow of an already scrappy game.

And no-one was pushing their luck more than Mwepu, who was booked for a 26th minute foul on Reguilon before catching Ben Davies with a raised boot.

The Kenyan international was instantly surrounded by protesting Spurs players, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg right in his face and demanding a second yellow card.

But if Mwepu could argue that he did not see Davies ducking into that challenge from behind, he could offer no excuse when he left a foot in on Hojbjerg right on the stroke of half-time.

Referee Craig Pawson even summoned Dunk over to reinforce the message that Mwepu was on a final warning.

But Potter wasn’t taking any chances of playing the game out with ten men and sensibly chose to send on Danny Welbeck as a half-time replacement for Mwepu.

Brighton fans would argue that Dejan Kulusevski was equally fortunate to escape with a yellow card for lashing out with an arm at Marc Cucurella.

So it was difficult to tell whether the half-time boos were for Brighton’s spoiling tactics or Tottenham’s complete lack of goal threat.

What was clear was that Conte was struggling to rally his team after spending the week away from the players while recovering from Covid.

Son finally raised the temperature with a couple of shots which were blocked by Veltman and Leandro Trossard before Lucas Moura was sent on for the out of touch Kulusevski.

But nothing Conte tried could prise open a Brighton defence that was giving absolutely nothing away.

And it was the visitors who continued to look the more dangerous as Mac Allister fired over from the edge of the area and Dunk’s powerful header required a rare save from Hugo Lloris.

If only Brighton had a decent finisher, they would comfortably be challenging for a place in the top eight.

But just when it looked as though they were going to settle for a goalless draw, Trossard pounced on Romero’s poor clearance to poke the ball past Lloris with the outside of his boot.

Cue mayhem in the away end and a stream of furious Spurs fans heading for an early exit.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk