Eriksen the star as Brighton defence nearly get job done

Spurs continued their impressive record at New White Hart Lane on Tuesday night with a dramatic 1-0 win over Brighton.

They laboured to the result which taught us plenty about their players’ credentials for the rest of the season.

The same can be said of Brighton who have responded well to recent calamitous results, potentially proving useful for at least one more Gameweek…

Spurs 1-0 Brighton

Goals: Christian Eriksen (£9.3m)

Assists: Dele Alli (£8.8m)

Christian Eriksen (£9.3m) outperformed Son Heung-min (£8.8m) again in Double Gameweek 35 as he scored the winning strike for Spurs on Tuesday night. The Danish international has now been involved in five goals in as many Premier League outings, while his South Korean colleague has now three times in that run of matches.

If anyone was going to bust through Brighton’s determined defence, Eriksen looked the most likely for most of the game. His total of seven efforts on goal was by far the highest of any player on the pitch, although none of them was taken from inside the box. Top for that particularly statistic Dele Alli (£8.8m) but clear cut chances came at a premium, with no Spurs attacker achieving a higher expected goals score (xG) than 0.39.

Despite dominating possession, with a 78.2% share, and registering a huge total of 29 shots, Spurs were unable to fashion a single big chance in the game. Eriksen’s winning goal was such an incredible individual effort from range that it certainly did not count as a clear opportunity, such is the quality of the player himself.

“I think it’s about quality. He has an amazing quality, he can shoot from outside of the box and have unbelievable shots with his left and right foot. Of course, it’s about mentality too but in the end, if you don’t have the quality, then you can shoot ten times without the keeper for sure you’re not going to score but with Christian, he can shoot and score.” – Mauricio Pochettino

While the story of the game will be headlined with Eriksen’s brilliance, a key factor was the impressive defensive job conducted by Brighton. The Seagulls have responded to their disastrous defeats to Bournemouth and Cardiff with two measured and organised containment jobs. Brighton did a fantastic job of limiting the space for their illustrious hosts to operate in, hence how they shot so often but were lacking clear cut opportunities. It was a night where a finish from distance was going to be the only way through. Lewis Dunk (£4.4m) especially excelled at Spurs as he registered a huge Clearances, Blocks and Interceptions (CBI) score of 16. Meanwhile, for the second match in a row, Mat Ryan (£4.4m) made enough saves to earn an additional point. It was the first time he had done that in back-to-back fixtures since Gameweek 10.

“I thought the centre-halves were both excellent. I can’t fault their attitude for the game. We’re going through a difficult period and we needed a response from the lads and we got that. (Asked if the game plan worked): I think so. They, of course, had chances, they’re not gonna go through 90 minutes without having them, but when it comes to clear chances I thought they were minimal. I thought we defended really well. I genuinely felt we would hold out.” – Chris Hughton

Earlier this week we suggested that Brighton’s defensive display at Wolves could see their owners could look to start them against Newcastle. We saw very little at Spurs on Tuesday evening to put us off options such as Ryan, Dunk and Shane Duffy (£4.8m) for Gameweek 36.

Concerns that Brighton will play a more open game at home to the Magpies after sitting tight and compact away at Wolves and Spurs are understandable, but Chris Hughton appears quite aware of his side’s limitations at this point. After all, they are now 10.5 hours without a goal in all competitions. In both of their Double Gameweek 35 matches, they have found it hard to trouble their opponents but acknowledging that could be the key to their survival. Knowing how hard it will be to force attacking returns out of a goal-shy team, it is possible that Hughton may set up conservatively again when Newcastle come to the Amex Stadium.

“We’ve found it difficult to score goals. We’ve never been big goalscorers anyway. It’s harder to get up the pitch against them because you have to face waves and waves of quality players. It’s difficult because they press well.” – Chris Hughton

Brighton’s struggles offensively were good news for those who were invested in the Spurs defence. There were welcome returns for Hugo Lloris (£5.4m) and Kieran Trippier (£6.0m), both of whom were absent for Saturday’s trip to Manchester City. The goalkeeper missed out with a minor injury, which he overcame in time to play Brighton, while Trippier was simply back in the side following a rest.

Brighton also rotated too, as Hughton continues to tweak his attack from game-to-game. Florin Andone (£5.0m) came in for Glenn Murray (£6.3m), which has become quite customary for away games in recent months, while Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£6.7m) and Jurgen Locadia (£5.3m) replaced Jose Izquierdo (£5.9m) and Solly March (£4.7m).

“Some of it was forced upon us, but most of it was about having that little bit of freshness. When you are on the back of a difficult game at Wolves with the quality that they’ve got, it can take a fair amount out of the team mentally and it was the same today. The changing room at the moment is a very down changing room because of the manner of the defeat.” – Chris Hughton

Finally, there was a collector’s item on Tuesday as forgotten man Vincent Janssen (£4.5m) made his first appearance in a Spurs shirt since August 2017. The striker came on for the last 10 minutes and did not look too out of place. Mauricio Pochettino was full of praise for him upon his return, clearly very pleased that he could call on him during a time of injuries for Spurs.

“I think I told you and no one can be surprised. In January when we decided to involve him again in the squad again, he was a player that had the same possibility as the others. Today with a lot of problems with a lot of offensive players like Harry Kane or Lamela I think we needed Vincent. In the last few months he was injured, he has recovered from injury. And now he is like from January, he is part of the team. We are going to decide if he is available, sometimes to use, sometimes to not like another player. I don’t know why it is going to surprise people, what I told you four or five months ago, that is the reality that happened today. I am not a liar, I am not a person that needs to lie to you or my fans. He is part of the team and I am going to decide whether to use or not. But today we needed him and he was on the bench like he was against Manchester City. But he cannot be on the list in the Champions League.” – Mauricio Pochettino

Tottenham Hotspur XI (4-3-3): Lloris; Rose, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Trippier; Alli, Wanyama (Davies 82′), Eriksen; Son (Foyth 90′), Llorente, Moura (Janssen 80′).

Brighton and Hove Albion XI (4-3-3): Ryan; Bernardo, Dunk, Duffy, Montoya; Bissouma (Kayal 86′), D Stephens, Groß; Locadia, Andone (Murray 64′), Jahanbakhsh (March 73′).