Have Brighton benefited from the postponement of the Spurs game?
With Sunday’s home game against Spurs having been postponed due to an outbreak of Covid-19 at Tottenham – which left them with only 10 senior players – have Brighton benefited with having the game delayed until later in the season?
When the line ups came out at 2pm last Saturday for Brighton’s away fixture against Southampton, it raised many questions to why Lewis Dunk had not been selected in the starting XI or even the bench.
It later came to light that Dunk had picked up a knee injury which resulted in the defender’s absence. Less than 24 hours later the news worsened when Albion fans found out that Dunk will be out until at least the new year.
Things got worse during the 1-1 draw at St Mary’s when Leandro Trossard landed awkwardly on his right arm after a challenge with 10 minutes remaining. It was clear to see he was in a lot of discomfort, resulting in the Albion star being stretchered off.
During the 1-1 draw with West Ham on the Wednesday prior to the Southampton game, Jeremy Sarmiento was handed his first Premier League start for the Albion. This was sadly shortened, as he was subbed off with a hamstring injury within the first 13 minutes.
Adam Webster was then removed in the 36th minute with a calf injury. After Brighton had made all three subs by bringing Tariq Lamptey on in the 70th minute to replace Joel Veltman, Adam Lallana then went down with a leg injury which took the Albion down to 10 men.
The Albion’s current injury list is as follows: Danny Welbeck (hamstring), Steve Alzate (ankle surgery), Dunk (knee), Trossard (elbow), Webster (calf), Lallana (leg), Jeremy Sarmiento (hamstring).
With Shane Duffy also set to miss Brighton’s next fixture due to a one match ban after his recent yellow card at Southampton, it would seem Brighton are better off with the postponement of the Spurs fixture to a date when they have less of a lengthy absentee list.
Duffy will now miss Brighton’s next match against Wolves on Wednesday 15th December. It is a slightly easier game for the Albion to be without one of their best defenders of the season so far as Spurs have been in good Premier League form since Antonio Conte arrived.
They would have come into the game at the Amex having won three, drawn one and lot one of their past five matches.
Five goals have been scored in their previous two fixtures, Spurs beating Brentford 2-0 and Norwich 3-0. Both games were played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Brighton meanwhile have gone 10 games without a win having drawn four of their last five. The Albion’s defeat in that came when losing 2-0 away to Aston Villa, both goals conceded after the 84th minute.
It is still unclear how long Trossard will be out for, but we know that the six others players in the treatment room will not return anytime soon.
With Albion’s injury list having stacked up within the last two weeks, Brighton can perhaps consider themselves lucky that the Spurs game was postponed.
