Brighton 0 Tottenham 2: Spurs boost European hopes as Romero and Kane secure vital three points

GARETH SOUTHGATE begins the countdown to the World Cup in Qatar today by naming his first squad of 2022.

And the England manager, preparing for two friendlies against Switzerland and Ivory Coast, finds himself in a bit of a mini crisis.

With the exception of Declan Rice and Phil Foden, most of the players who featured at Euro 2020 have either seen their form disintegrate, been simply bang average or have been out injured.

So, at least Southgate has Harry Kane.

The Tottenham striker struggled more than most after the gut-wrenching defeat on penalties to Italy but as he proved on the south coast, Kane is once again looking like one of the most feared forwards in Europe.

Kane scored the second of a scruffy win over Brighton who have now lost six Premier League in a row.

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Cristian Romero put Spurs ahead with his first goal for the club but it is not one he will boast about to his grandkids.

Yet Kane’s confidently-taken, first-time effort in the 57th minute saw him become the highest away scorer in Premier League history with 95 strikes.

He moved above Frank Lampard to fifth on the overall scoring list with 178 goals and is now 82 off Alan Shearer.

Surely, eventually, Kane will take over at the top from Alan Shearer but whether that will be in a Spurs shirt remains to be seen.

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Weirdly, he has now scored 243 goals in all competitions for Tottenham with an equal amount home and away – 121 – with the other at a neutral stadium.

And you have to give credit to Antonio Conte whose arrival at Spurs has sparked a big improvement from Kane.

He looks much fitter and sharper than at the start of the campaign when his confidence was shot to pieces.

Kane is back hunting down long balls and lost causes and he should have put Spurs ahead right at the start.

He did the hard part by catching out dithering keeper Robert Sanchez and blocking an attempted pass to Joel Veltman.

But Kane, looking certain to score, then failed the easy bit by sliding the shot wide.

Kane somehow avoided a caution when, after losing the ball, used both arms to drag back the impressive Yves Bissouma.

He escaped with a mere talking to from ref Robert Jones – anyone would think he was getting special treatment. 

Rodrigo Bentancur delivered the most bizarre moment of the game when an attempted clearance ended up as a shot at his own keeper from about 25 yards out.

He avoided scoring the most spectacular own goal of all time as his effort sailed over the head of Hugo Lloris.

And Tottenham got some luck at the other end when Dejan Kulusevski’s shot from outside the area took a deflection off Romero and rolled into the corner with home keeper Sanchez rooted to the spot.

It was harsh on Brighton but once again they paid the price for not closing down the opposition, which also happened against Liverpool on Saturday.

Kulusevski had been denied a third goal for Spurs by a team-mate but he should have made it 2-0 after being sent clear following a terrible mistake by Shane Duffy but the Swedish international delivered a lousy effort straight at Sanchez.

Brighton looked good value to level the scoring but were then guilty of more terrible defending which has played a part in their alarming slide under Graham Potter.

Kulusevski showed strength to win the ball with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Bentancur combining to send Kane scampering clear.

Sanchez should have raced off his line to clear the ball but hesitated and soon paid the price. Kane dispatched a perfect effort into the near corner.

This means Kane and Son have now scored 23 of Tottenham’s 44 Premier League goals and Lloris has kept 11 clean sheets from 28.

It was by no means a vintage performance from Spurs and they have a hell of a lot of work to do.

And now they must be ready for West Ham on Sunday, a game which is now more important than just London pride as a European spot is at stake.

The problem is that one of these sides could finish the season in sixth spot and that prize, potentially, could be the wooden spoon as it would mean entry to the Europa Conference.

But if Kane finishes the season on fire, maybe Tottenham can still dream of finishing a bit higher.

And for the manager of England, this can only be a good thing.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk