Match Preview: Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton
Tottenham Hotspur has probably been Brighton’s most eagerly anticipated away game of the season. We’re not sure if you’ve heard, but Spurs have just moved into a brand new stadium and it’s supposed to be rather good.
Sure, the artisan cheese room hasn’t actually been built but there is still “provision for guests to store their personal vintage wines, cognacs and liquors in a purpose-built, temperature-controlled on-site reserve”.
The massive stand inspired by Dortmund’s yellow wall looks incredible, pints get poured in 10 seconds through the bottom of the plastic pint glass and they’ve even come up with this novel idea of leaving the bars at the ground open after the full time whistle to allow the crowds to disperse and make traveling home via public transport less of a nightmare. Wonder where they got that idea from?
It should be quite the experience off the pitch then. On it, less so. The Albion haven’t scored for 570 minutes in the Premier League now and have no win in five. There’s more chance of the Daily Express going a calendar year without mentioning Princess Diana than there is of Brighton getting anything from Mauricio Pochettino’s Champions League semi finalists. Still, we’re gonna enjoy it.
Who are Tottenham Hotspur?
Tottenham Hotspur were formed in 1882 with the sole purpose of trying to finish above their North London rivals, Arsenal. They’ve managed that in the past two seasons, which explains why so many of their fans are delighted with the club despite the fact they have won just two League Cups in the past 25 years. Even the Albion have managed more silverware than that with two League One titles and a League Two championship. Due to this obsession that Spurs and the Gunners have with each other, it’s almost been forgotten that Tottenham were the first side to win a domestic double in 1961 and in 1963 became the first English club to win a European competition when lifting the Cup Winners Cup.
What are they like now?
Really, everything is in place for Spurs to challenge Manchester City and Liverpool’s current dominance of English football. The new stadium appears to have given everyone at the club a huge lift as seen when they knocked Manchester City out of the Champions League at the quarter final stage last week. They’re enjoying a successful season in Europe and in the Premier League, despite the fact that Pochettino was given no new players last summer with chairman Daniel Levy making Paul Barber look more generous than Bill Gates. Should they manage to hold onto the manager and actually back him substantially in the transfer market whilst allowing him to bring through the countless talented youngsters that seem to keep rolling out of their academy, then the future looks very bright indeed.
Which players should we be worried about?
The obvious one is Harry Kane but thankfully for the Albion, the England captain is out injured until the end of the season. Heung-Min Son leads the line admirably in Kane’s absence and he has proven to be a real handful in our three Premier League meetings to date, scoring in Spurs’ 2-0 win at Wembley back in December 2017. If Hugo Lloris offers you a lift after the game, then you should be wary about jumping in his car unless you fancy being driven around by a bloke who is so hammered he doesn’t realise he is covered in sick, doing 15mph in a 30mph zone or crawling through red lights. Puts that time Lee Steele demolished a lamp post on the A23 after the player’s Christmas party into perspective.
What’s the Albion’s record like against Tottenham Hotspur?
It’s not great.There have been 31 previous meetings between the Albion and Spurs with Brighton winning on only eight of those and just three times in Football League competitions. The most recent of those was back in April 1983 when Steve Gatting and Gerry Ryan were on target in a 2-1 Goldstone win for Jimmy Melia’s side. Tottenham have 15 wins to their name and there have been eight draws.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Tottenham Hotspur away?
Visits to Spurs have been few and far between down the years. Mark McGhee took his Albion side to White Hart Lane in the FA Cup third round of 2005 and they very nearly snatched a famous replay until Robbie Keane scored a brilliant volley late on to give the hosts a 2-1 win. Richard Carpenter had netted a fine free kick on what was Brighton’s first cup meeting with top flight opposition for 11 years.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Tottenham Hotspur away?
Last year’s game at Wembley was horrible. An entire generation of Brighton fans had never seen the Seagulls play at the national stadium in their lifetime, so for their first experience of it to be in a half empty ground with no atmosphere and for a forgettable 2-0 league defeat was a real shame. We’ve obviously been back to Wembley since for a proper occasion when facing Manchester City in the FA Cup semi finals a few weeks ago, but that first trip under the arch was a soul destroying experience.
Who’s played for both sides?
The Albion have had two former Spurs players manage us in the past decade. Current boss Chris Hughton came through the youth system at White Hart Lane before going onto captain the club and Gus Poyet played 82 times in a three year spell at Tottenham before later managing Brighton with some success until he hit his mythical glass ceiling. Poyet’s assistant was his former Spurs teammate Mauricio Taricco who was absolutely fantastic value, getting himself sent off for dissent in his first professional game for eight years after coming out of retirement to play away at Woking in 2010.
Other than football, what is Tottenham famous for?
Rioting and cake, mainly. The Broadwater Farm riot occurred around the Broadwater Farm Estate in 1985 and 26 years later, the London Riots of 2011 started in Tottenham after the shooting of Mark Duggan. As for the cake, Tottenham cake is a sponge cake made in large trays, covered either in pink icing or jam and was originally sold by the baker Henry Chalkley for the price of one old penny, with smaller mis-shaped pieces sold for half an old penny. Mr Levy now sells it inside the new stadium for a price of £2,456 per slice.
Where’s the betting value for Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton?
We could just copy and paste this from Saturday’s game at Wolves, but again it’s got to be any market that involves Brighton not scoring. We have managed only one goal away against the big six so far this season when losing 2-1 against Manchester United, which makes Spurs to win to nil at evens, a home clean sheet at 4/5 and under 2.5 goals at 5/4 look decent bets.
Prediction?
2-0 to Spurs. We aren’t going to score but fingers crossed we prevent it from becoming too embarrassing.
