Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton & Hove Albion

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Tuesday 22nd April 7.45pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium​

The Man City Saga is finally over and we're back to the top four fight, having had some luck with other results.
If we win our remaining league games, then we'll finish third. It's in our hands and we have three home games.
First up is the visit from our old friend Chris Hughton and his struggling Seagulls.
They're as desperate for points as we are, but for very different reasons.
Can we take the points and give ourselves some breathing room or will Brighton do it and fight off relegation?

Albion's campaign has been quite typical of 2nd Season Syndrome.
Little money, few transfers and a stretched squad struggling without the morale boost of promotion.
The first half of it went pretty well, peaking at 10th place in early December.
The second half has been much tougher, with few wins and plenty of loses.
The one highlight was the FA Cup run, which ended with a rather limp semi-final defeat to Man City.

Chris Hughton's future at the club is being questioned, regardless of whether he avoids relegation.
Is that fair? Probably not, as he's done very well during his time at the club and hasn't spent much.
Is it predictable? Very. The Premier League has very little patience and an itchy trigger finger.
He'll have no trouble finding another job if he does get the chop, though.

The match at Wembley last season was a bit of a strange one, as we struggled to break them down.
We dominated possession, territory and chances, but couldn't quite put one away for most of the first half.
A deflected Aurier cross finally broke their stubborn resistance just before the break.
The second saw a similar pattern, as Brighton fought hard to stay in the game.
There were only a few minutes left on the clock when Son headed home from an Eriksen free-kick to end it:

The game at The Amex in September was probably an easier win, though it came with a closer scoreline.
Another game with tons of possession and territory, yet having to wait for a late, first-half goal.
Harry Kane scored from the spot this time, following a handball by Glenn Murray.
We didn't have to wait as long for the second this time, as Lamela swept home a Rose cross on 76 minutes.
Brighton weren't ready to give up the ghost and Knockaert finally got one back late in injury time:

Kane and Aurier miss out again, but it appears that Winks and Lloris are back in contention.
Brighton don't seem to have any injuries, but Knockaert is suspended.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Gazzaniga; Foyth, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Alli, Dier, Eriksen; Son, Moura.
Subs: Vorm, Walker-Peters, Rose, Wanyama, Skipp, Janssen, Llorente.
League form: DLLWWL.

Brighton: Ryan; Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Bong; Gross, Stephens, Propper; March, Murray, Izquierdo.
Subs: Button, Bernardo, Burn, Andone, Kayal, Locadia, Jahanbaksh.
League form: WLLLLD.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh.

TV: Sky Sports.

How do we approach this one and do we do anything different, due to our upcoming games?
Should we stick with the back five/three used against City or go back to a four?
Would you give Moura and Son another go up front, introduce Llorente or do something different entirely?

 

It's actually quite humbling to think that we've picked up the same amount of points as Brighton over the past 6 games. CL progress papered over the fact that our recent league form has been shocking.

Gazza
KWP Dave Toby Davies
Dier Skipp
Lucas Alli Son
Llorente

Please.

 

I know Brighton are fighting for survival, but IMHO the Spanners at
the weekend will need the strongest starting XI (due to their eternal
"cup final" mentality and the new WHL factor) .

Looking at the fixture list for this week, there is a good chance that
Spurs could put at least a top 4 place to bed.

I feel some combo of the Huddlesfield/CIteh PL lineups will suffice
for a win against Brighton. If Lamela and Winks are starting XI ready,
this could be the game to play them in.

 

Gazza
KWP, Foyth, Dave, Davies
Dier, Alli
Lucas, Eriksen, Son
Llorente

 

The most important question for this math is...will Janssen be on the bench for his second game in a row?

 

Brilliant right up as usual but we won 2 on the trot before city loss...
Think our recent record is
DLLWWL.
Am going with my uni kid and teen beast and we are on the the wall of sound so will be horse on Wednesday...
COYS

 

Which is what it says.

 

My bad

 

Poch confirms that the GOAT will be out for a further 2 weeks, ruling him out of Brighton, Spam and Ajax minimally

 

News isn’t much better with regards to Winks either.

Poch said along the lines of “it’s a problem that is sometimes very good, sometimes not good but we have to assess him”. That to me sounds like Winks has developed Ledleyitis.

 

Or Lamelaria?

 

It's hard to believe how unlucky we are being with injuries and have been all season...Kane, Winks and Sissoko sre all huge misses and then there's Lamela and possibly Wanyama also missing.
God knows what kind of midfield we'll be playing tomorrow night

 

Reddit might get their wish of Jansen playing as a central midfielder

...and still there's no chance of Jack Roles getting a spot on the bench

 

The things that do not kill you ...

That aside, this is another 'Spurlock' game.
Chelsky faltered, and the Goons / Man Utd have nasty games to play this round.
A win tonight will increase the stress on all of them for the weekend games.

 

Tricky game tonight, Brighton dug in against Wolves over the weekend and I expect to see the same later. We may struggle to break them down given the players we’re missing.

 

Self-denial corner: I did not offer a similar suggestion using Dier’s name!

 

Talking of Luiz, he needs to up his diving technique. 2.1, 2.1, 1.9, 1.6, 1.9

 

Low vertical trajectory, near perfect horizontal motion.
No backwards arching of the back, or arms spread wide.

I score it as perfect.

 

But it was lacking the Salah 'I've been shot' theatrical element and he stood up straight afterwards without rolling around displaying a near fatal injury.

 

I'm in Row 66 of the SS tonight, at the cost of £65. Row 66......even Andros couldn't boot the ball that high up!

Last night my brother rings me...

"I've been told that I've got to work Tuesday....do you want my ticket?"

It's in Row 10......it's cheaper, the view is better, I can stand for the whole match and have a piss at half time.

If I have a ****ing heart attack climbing up all those stairs, I'm coming back to haunt him...