Tottenham Hotspur came from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Brighton & Hove Albion at the American Express Stadium.
Thomas Frank seemed to be staring down the barrel of a second Premier League defeat as Spurs boss, when Brighton took an early lead through Yankuba Minteh, before Yasin Ayari created some breathing room with a stunning strike in the 31st minute.
Richarlison, though, halved the deficit in the 43rd minute and Spurs took that momentum into the second half. After substitute Xavi Simons had twice gone close to scoring, the visitors' pressure paid off when Jan Paul van Hecke turned the ball into his own net in the 82nd minute.
The draw moved Spurs, at least temporarily, up to second place, while Brighton are 13th with five points from as many matches.
How the match unfolded
Against the run of play, Minteh put Brighton ahead in the eighth minute, beating Spurs’ offside trap before rounding Guglielmo Vicario and finishing into an empty net.
The Seagulls doubled their advantage as Ayari caught Vicario off-guard with a fierce effort from an unlikely angle, some 32 yards out.
Yet Spurs pulled one back just before half-time. Mohammed Kudus’s shot fell straight to Richarlison, who managed to take a touch before slotting home.
It looked like it would not be Spurs’ day when substitute Simons was denied by Bart Verbruggen and scuffed another shot wide.
However, they finally found an equaliser as Kudus’s cross went through to Van Hecke, who was only able to deflect it in off his thigh.
Kudus almost capped a fine individual performance with a winner in stoppage time, but his deflected strike looped just over Verbruggen’s goal.
Gruda’s time to shine?
Ayari’s strike may have been the highlight for Brighton, but Brajan Gruda impressed on what was his first league start of the season.
With Georginio Rutter moving into the striker role, Gruda slotted into the attacking midfield position, and Fabian Hurzeler will have liked what he saw.
The German youth international played a crucial role in Brighton’s opening goal, holding the ball up before finding Rutter, who then played Minteh through on goal.
Gruda was also involved with two chances just before the half-hour mark, teeing up a long shot for Ayari before missing the target with an effort of his own from distance.
The 21-year-old offered some security to Hurzeler’s midfield, too, with Gruda often dropping back to the edge of his own box in order to help out defensively.
Although this meant the front three of Minteh, Rutter and Kaoru Mitoma were left to do more work on the counter, it is certainly food for thought for Hurzeler, especially with Danny Welbeck struggling to click into top gear, as Brighton aim to propel themselves up the table. It was ultimately a frustrating day for the Seagulls after such a positive start.
Gruda, who was subbed off just after the hour and replaced with veteran James Milner, will hope to start again for Brighton when they face Barnsley in the EFL Cup, with a trip to Chelsea following in their next league match.
Simons makes his mark as Frank mixes things up
This was the first time that Pape Matar Sarr – who had been an unused substitute as Spurs’ squad was rotated following their UEFA Champions League exploits in midweek – did not start a match under Frank’s reign, and his absence was felt in the middle of the pitch for Spurs.
The visitors’ best chances in the first half came from wide areas as Lucas Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur opted to attack crosses.
Spurs’ midfield also struggled when defending transitions, with their backline often left in one-on-one situations when facing counter-attacks.
New signing Simons also had to settle for a place among the substitutes, but the Dutch international certainly made a difference when he came on just after the hour.
Deployed in a central role, Simons was swift to get in and around the action, as proved by his two chances, while it was he who played the pass out to Kudus in the build-up to Spurs’ equaliser.
Frank is likely to mix things up again when Spurs face Doncaster Rovers next week in the EFL Cup, before they host lowly Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Club reports
Brighton report | Spurs report
What the managers said
Fabian Hurzeler: "In the moments that we conceded the goals, the timing was bad. I think how we conceded the goals was quite unlucky. Overall I was pleased with the performance.
"We created chances, had quite a few good transition moments, especially in the second half. In the end there were a lot of unlucky things."
Thomas Frank: "I thought we looked extremely strong. I am very happy with the overall performance. It was potentially our best performance of the season. We dominated more or less throughout the game and created enough chances.
"We maybe lacked enough to create three or four big chances but the amount of crosses we were putting in... For me if there should have been a winner it should have been us."
Next PL fixtures
Key facts
Since the start of their first Premier League season (2017-18), Brighton have conceded more own goals than any other side (20).
Richarlison has scored 14 goals in his last 19 Premier League starts for Tottenham.
Ayari's strike for Brighton (32.2 yards) was the joint-longest range goal Brighton have scored in the Premier League alongside Carlos Baleba's winner against West Ham in April. Meanwhile, it was the longest range goal Spurs have conceded in the competition since August 2016 (Ross Barkley for Everton – 40 yards).
Tottenham have won just one of their last nine Premier League games that have come after playing in Europe in midweek (W3 L5), with that sole victory coming against Burnley on MD1 this season following the UEFA Super Cup.