Son Heung-min broke the deadlock for Tottenham with a superb curled effort after 10 minutes. Brighton were denied an equaliser after 17 minutes when Kaoru Mitoma’s volleyed effort was disallowed for handball following a VAR check. Mitoma controlled Moises Caicedo’s chipped through-ball with the top of his arm or shoulder and it was adjudged by VAR to be handball after the linesman had already decided to rule out the strike.
Brighton did find their leveller with 33 minutes played when Lewis Dunk headed home Solly March’s corner to make it 1-1 at Tottenham. A sweet moment for Dunk on his 200th Premier League appearance for Albion. Brighton were denied a second goal at Tottenham when Danny Welbeck’s effort took a deflection off team-mate Alexis Mac Allister and beat Hugo Lloris.
Welbeck’s shot hit what seemed to be the hip area of Mac Allister and VAR adjudged it to be handball with De Zerbi looking perplexed on the touchline.
De Zerbi and his opposite Cristian Stellini were later sent off for a touchline altercation that sparked some pushing and shoving between the two benches and some players. De Zerbi and Stellini previously had a heated exchange of words prior to kick-off.
Kane put Tottenham back ahead with 11 minutes left when he rifled home from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s cutback. Tough on Brighton and seriously hard done by by some terrible officiating.
Here’s how the Albion players rated at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium...
9. Solly March - 6
Not at his very best in the first half but provided the perfect corner for Dunk to plant home his header. Photo: BEN STANSALL
10. Alexis Mac Allister - 7
Struggled to find space against a pteam foocussed on counter attack. Always looking to pick the right pass but not quite at his best. Maybe struggling a little with injury Photo: BEN STANSALL
11. Kaoru Mitoma - 7
Denied a goal by a dodgy VAR handball call. Lively going forward but his loose play allowed Hojbjerg into cut back for Kane's decisive goal Photo: BEN STANSALL
12. Danny Welbeck - 7
Decent performance from Welbeck kept the home defence occupied and dropped deep to link the attack. Unlucky his deflected effort was ruled out for handball by Mac Allister. Replaced by Ferguson on 65 Photo: Julian Finney