Brighton and Hove News

Brighton and Hove Albion present former head coach Roberto De Zerbi with a tough test in his home match since taking charge of Tottenham Hotspur.

Albion will be without veteran midfielder James Milner who remains unavailable for the trip to relegation-threatened Spurs tomorrow (Saturday 18 April).

Milner missed the 2-0 victory at Burnley last weekend with what boss Fabian Hürzeler described as a “small issue” and is still ruled out.

Brighton have no fresh injury problems, however, and have recovered their form, with five wins in their past six games.

Hürzeler said: “James will still be out but he’s getting close. Besides that, everything is fine.”

The Albion head coach is to lock horns with the new Tottenham boss De Zerbi for the first time since he replaced the Italian at Amex Stadium in 2024.

De Zerbi is a popular figure on the south coast having steered Brighton to their highest-ever Premier League finish of sixth in 2023.

He also masterminded the club’s FA Cup run to the semi-finals in the same season.

Having left for Marseille, De Zerbi now faces the challenge of keeping Spurs in the top flight.

Hürzeler said: “Roberto deserves praise because he had a huge impact on this club and had great achievements with the players.

“He reached Europe for the first time so he deserves this praise.

“On the other side, when the whistle goes, it’s a game between Brighton and Tottenham.

“We are there to win this game and that’s our focus.”

De Zerbi has had one bit of good news as Rodrigo Bentancur returned to training.

The Uruguay midfielder had been on Spurs’ lengthy casualty list since suffering a hamstring injury in January.

Bentancur now looks set to provide a timely boost for new De Zerbi as they look to stave off the drop.

Spurs slipped into the relegation zone after the 1-0 defeat at Sunderland in De Zerbi’s first game in charge and now have six matches left to save themselves.

They also lost captain Cristian Romero to a season-ending knee injury at the Stadium of Light while Mohammed Kudus, Wilson Odobert, Ben Davies, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski remain long-term absentees.

De Zerbi will be hoping that Bentancur will be fit enough to be included in the squad for the Seagulls’ visit.

The 28-year-old was a regular starter under previous boss Thomas Frank, making 28 appearances in all competitions this season before injury struck.

Brighton and Hove Albion 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2

Brighton and Hove Albion had to share the spoils after taking a two-goal lead at home to Tottenham Hotspur at the Amex this afternoon (Saturday 20 September).

Yankuba Minteh opened the scoring after eight minutes and just after the half-hour Yasin Ayari extended Brighton’s lead.

But Richarlison pulled one back moments before the break and late in the second half the visitors drew level thanks to an own goal from Jan Paul van Hecke.

Although Spurs were behind for most of the match, they dominated the game, especially in the second half.

And it was against the run of play when Albion opened the scoring to the delight of the home fans at Falmer.

Georginio Rutter passed to Minteh who dummied Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario before dinking the ball over him.

Ayari added a second on 31 minutes with a cracking shot from just outside the box.

It looked as though the hosts might take a 2-0 lead into the interval but Mohammed Kudus picked out Richarlison with a terrific pass and the Brazilian buried it from close range.

When the teams were back on the pitch after the break, the north London side were in battling form and almost straight away Kudus was booked by referee Chris Kavanagh.

But it took until the 82nd minute before the scores were levelled when Kudus again played the ball into the Brighton area where Van Hecke deflected it in.

Minutes later, it looked as though Spurs could have a penalty when Xavi Simons went down in the box.

The ref initially waved play on but, shortly after, Albion hearts sank when he made the sign for the video assistant referee. On this occasion the VAR review went Albion’s way.

And when the final whistle came, it was something of a relief to have emerged with a point after what seemed like relentless pressure despite the early prospect of taking all three.

Spurs leapfrog Arsenal into second place behind Liverpool although the Gunners play their game in hand tomorrow at home to Manchester City.

Brighton are in 13th, with five points from five games. They are due to play League One side Barnsley in the third round of the League Cup at 7.45pm on Tuesday (23 September).

Next Saturday (27 September) at 3pm, Albion face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league.

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