Brighton & Hove Albion staged a storming second-half comeback with Danny Welbeck sealing a 3-2 home win over Tottenham Hotspur in a topsy-turvy Premier League clash on Sunday.
Goals by Brennan Johnson and James Maddison gave a dominant Spurs side a thoroughly deserved 2-0 lead at the interval.
But the game was turned upside down after the break as Tottenham’s defence fell apart under pressure to concede three goals in the space of 18 minutes.
Yankuba Minteh pulled a goal back for the hosts three minutes after the restart before Georginio Rutter levelled from close range. Welbeck then headed Brighton’s third after more flimsy defending by the visitors.
Brighton’s first win in five league games lifted them above Spurs into sixth place in the table with 12 points from seven games, while Tottenham are in ninth spot on 10.
When Johnson slotted in his sixth goal in six games from Dominic Solanke’s pass to reward 23 minutes of total Tottenham control, the visitors were oozing with confidence.
Johnson, the first Tottenham player to score in six successive games since Harry Kane in 2019, could have added another before a sweeping Spurs move ended with Maddison’s shot sneaking past at-fault Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen.
Welbeck twice came close for Brighton before the interval but the hosts had been thoroughly outplayed by Ange Postecoglou’s slick visitors.
“First half was bitterly disappointing,” Welbeck told Sky Sport. “The performance we put in was embarrassing and not something we want to be part of.”
Whatever was said at halftime by Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler worked a treat as Brighton, with Pervis Estupinan on as a substitute, a completely different proposition.
Tottenham were napping as they failed to cut out a cross with Destiny Udogie’s horrible miskick falling for Minteh who took a touch before driving a shot past Guglielmo Vicario.
The goal rocked Tottenham and as the rain came down on the south coast, they fell to pieces.
Ten minutes later winger Kaoru Mitoma played a pass in to Rutter and with Tottenham’s defenders failing to react he fired in Brighton’s leveller.
Brighton’s winner summed up Tottenham’s second-half display. Rutter should never have been able to deliver a cross from the right but showed far more desire than those trying to stop him and when the ball was delivered across the area Welbeck had the simplest of tasks to nod it into the net.
“Fair to say that the second half was unacceptable and we paid a price for that,” Postecoglou, who looked stunned at the final whistle, said. “We probably should have put it to bed in the first half.
“What we did in that second half is unacceptable and we got what we deserved.”
