PREMIER LEAGUE
SATURDAY 18TH APRIL, 2026
(5.30 PM)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2(1) BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 2(1)

Spurs scorers:-
Pedro Porro, 39
Xavi Simons, 77

Brighton scorers:-
Mitoma, 45 +3
Rutter, 90 +5

Attendance:- 61,167

Referee:- Stuart Attwell
Assistants:- Constantine Hatzidakis, Mark Scholes
Fourth official:- Ben Toner
VAR:- Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR:- Adam Nunn

Teams:-
Spurs (4-3-3):- 31. Kinsky; 23. Pedro Porro, 4. Danso, 37. Van de Ven (Capt.), 13. Udogie (sub 24. Spence, 76); 22. Gallagher (sub 15. Bergvall, 76), 30. Bentancur (sub 6. Palhinha, 67), 8. Bissouma (sub 14. Gray, 57); 39. Kolo Muani (sub 11. Tel, 57), 19. Solanke, 7. Xavi Simons

Subs not used:- 40. Austin; 3. Dragusin; 10. Maddison; 9. Richarlison

Booked:- Bissouma (foul on Ayari), Danso (foul on Mitoma), Xavi Simons (over-celebration)

Brighton (4-2-3-1):- 1. Verbruggen; 27. Wieffer, 6. Van Hecke, 21. Boscagli, 24. Kadioglu; 26. Ayari (sub 19. Kostoulas, 82), 30. Gross; 25. Gomez (sub 22. Mitoma, 20) (sub 29. De Cuyper, 75), 13. Hinshelwood (sub 33. O'Riley, 75), 11. Minteh; 18. Welbeck (Capt.) (sub 10. Rutter, 75)
(Armband to Gross)

Subs not used:- 23. Steele; 3. Igor Julio, 34. Veltman; 17. Baleba

Booked:- Wieffer (foul on Xavi)

Spurs lead twice, but Brighton burst our bubble of hope

In an exciting and entertaining game where Spurs led twice through excellent goals by Pedro Porro and Xavi Simons, Brighton stunned us with goals in added time at the end of each half. Until Rutter's 95th minute goal, Spurs had hopes of a precious first league win of 2026, and indeed of ending that 15-game winless run. It was a good home performance and if we are going to go down, we will do so with a fight. Roberto de Zerbi insists we can win our last five games!

De Zerbi made four changes, the first of which was enforced with Danso replacing injured captain Cristian Romero. Rodrigo Bentancur made a welcome return after three months out of action and gave a good individual performance. There were starts too for Bissouma and Xavi. Even James Maddison was named on the bench, but I can't say I spotted him warming up on the touchline during the game and I don't think he had a serious chance of featuring. Micky van de Ven wore the captain's armband.

The atmosphere was racked up with flags waved and urges to the crowd by Paul Coyte, who had interviewed Erik Lamela pre-match.

Brighton kicked off in the bright sunshine towards the South Stand.

Spurs were generally more direct in their play with little time wasted in their own half. Verbruggen was out to claim the ball in an early Spurs advance.

Referee Stuart Attwell didn't please home fans with his lenience and chose to have "words" with Mats Wieffer after a foul on Udogie. After the free kick, taken by Xavi and a pass by Pedro Porro, Udogie went down again, this time under Minteh's challenge, but Mr. Attwell showed no interest in a penalty.

There was a chant of "Super Kevin Danso" when he thwarted a Brighton attack, and a delay when Gomez needed treatment before being replaced by Mitoma.

A cross by Pedro Porro was cleared to the feet of Xavi, whose shot was deflected for a corner. After a second corner, Muani headed the ball into the 6-yard box and Van de Ven headed wide.

Brighton had a couple of corners, one of which was pushed into safety by Kinsky. There was no card for Ayari's cynical foul on Gallagher, who won a corner with his subsequent shot. Bissouma was booked for his foul on Ayari. After Brighton's free kick, Danny Welbeck headed back across goal and Kinsky just got a touch to push the ball against the outside of the post.

Wieffer was booked for halting Xavi's charge. Spurs took the lead with an excellent goal. Xavi had fed Solanke towards the left of the box. Solanke returned the favour and Xavi lifted a nice ball to the middle where Pedro Porro headed home for his first Premier League goal of the season!

Xavi might have made it 2-0 soon afterwards when he received Solanke's pass but rolled the ball past the keeper's left hand only to see it rebound off the post. Pedro Porro forced a save after Udogie had intercepted a pass in the Brighton half.

Having had the chance to double or even triple our lead, we were pegged back when Gross crossed deep from the right and Mitoma slammed home an unstoppable shot from beyond the back post. That was a severe blow.

There was a trumpet-led rendition of "Glory, glory" at the start of the second half.

After an error by Udogie, Gross crossed again, but Van Hecke headed over. We then had to defend and block two shots. Gallagher and Danso got the relevant touches.

Bissouma and Muani (I saw little from him today) were replaced by Archie Gray and Mathys Tel.

The referee saw fit to "have words" with Van Hecke after his foul on Solanke. The crowd chanted "You're not fit to referee". At the other end Kevin Danso was penalised for a foul on Mitoma just outside our box. Welbeck's free kick was blocked.

Bentancur was replaced by Palhinha. After a Tel cross was returned by Xavi, Palhinha had a good shot deflected twice before Verbruggen saved.

More substitutions followed, including Rutter for Welbeck, Bergvall for Gallagher and Spence for Udogie. Bergvall had an immediate impact, putting pressure on Van Hecke in the Brighton half, before passing to Xavi. Xavi cut in to his right before unleashing a super shot that rebounded off the far post and hit the net. He didn't mind getting booked for his celebration in the South Stand!

Xavi needed treatment later but was able to continue. We had used all our subs. Somehow, the officials found 8 minutes of added time. Brighton went close when Kostoulas headed wide from Minteh's cross, but in the 95th minute we suffered an awful blow. Kevin Danso slipped up trying to play the ball out of our box and Van Hecke delivered the pass into the middle where Rutter fired home to boost Brighton's European chances.

Archie Gray had a late shot held by Verbruggen, but we had to share the points, despite scoring twice in the league for the first time since our 2-2 draw at home to Man city on February 1st. Next week's game at Molineux really is a must-win game.

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