Tottenham Hotspur

Pedro Porro headed the opener from Xavi Simons’ cross on 39 minutes and Xavi struck the post soon after, only for Kauro Mitoma to volley home Brighton's equaliser in added time at the end of the first half.

Match report...

Xavi produced a moment of magic to fire home off the post from 20 yards after Lucas Bergvall won possession to spark scenes of jubilation on 77 minutes. However, the visitors had the final word in the 95th minute when Georginio Rutter pounced for a hammer blow equaliser.

Speaking to us afterwards, Roberto reflected: “We played very well. I think we deserved to win this game. I'm disappointed just for the players and the fans because, for me, nothing changes. I'm positive. I believe in my players, not just now after this game, but before coming here.

“We have time enough to reach the target. We have the qualities enough to reach the target. We have to be strong and to be positive and not to be sad and not to be negative and to help inside on the pitch, the changing room, to keep this atmosphere and to come on Monday afternoon with a smile. Otherwise, they don't work with me.

“I said like this inside the dressing room because after one game like this, after the mentality and the spirit they showed, now we have to believe in the target.”

Asked how pleased he was that both of our goals came from high pressure, Roberto added: “I'm pleased for the pressure. I think we can press higher again. We can play better with the bal. We can improve with the ball. We are not working so much in the build-up, because I don't want to give too much information, to give too much instruction. They have to play with confidence and freedom.”

SPURSPLAY

In what was Roberto De Zerbi’s first home game in charge as our Head Coach – coincidentally against his former side – we took a 2-1 lead into the final stages thanks to a truly stunning Xavi Simons curler in the 77th minute and looked to be holding on until Georginio Rutter smashed home from just inside the area to snatch away the win.

Earlier we’d gone ahead when Pedro Porro headed home shortly before the break, only to concede in first-half added time through a wonderful Kaoru Mitoma volley. Both sides had chances throughout a thoroughly entertaining clash but ultimately we had to settle for the single point, although the positives from a good team performance could go a long way to helping us climb up the table.

With the flags waving and the fans in great voice in the lead-up to kick off, we started the game on the front foot and had Brighton pegged back in the early stages. The first moment of note came in the 10th minute when Destiny Udogie went down under the challenge of Yankuba Minteh after a quick free-kick but referee Stuart Attwell waved away our penalty appeals.

We continued to set the tempo and had a couple of opportunities from corners around the 20-minute mark, the first of which was cleared to Xavi on the edge of the area and his low shot took a nick as it deflected just past Bart Verbruggen’s far post. From the next corner, Randal Kolo Muani blazed over the bar.

Slowly though, Brighton grew into the game and Antonin Kinsky did really well to tip away a corner right under his crossbar before we escaped thanks to some incredible defending on 32 minutes. Minteh clipped a ball to the far post which was headed back across goal where Danny Welbeck looked like he was going to tap home but somehow Micky van de Ven got a toe onto the ball to send it against the post, along the goal-line and we cleared the danger. Welbeck then forced Kinsky into a save with a header from a free-kick moments later.

But just as the visitors were having their best spell, we took the lead in the 39th minute. Excellent pressing from Dominic Solanke and Conor Gallagher won us the ball back deep in Brighton territory, Solanke found Xavi who sent over the perfect cross which Pedro Porro headed home from six yards out. And it really should have been 2-0 a couple of minutes later as Solanke broke through, played in Xavi who cut onto his right inside the area, beat Verbruggen but not the post and then the Seagulls keeper made a stunning save to get back onto his feet and tip Pedro Porro’s powerful shot over from the rebound.

We were so on top at that stage, only to concede a stunning equaliser three minutes into first-half stoppage time as Pascal Gross sent in a deep cross which Mitoma met with the cleanest of volleys into the roof of the net and we went in all square at the interval.

The start of the second period saw the visitors with a couple of chances but blocks from Gallagher and Kevin Danso kept out efforts from Yasin Ayari and Mitoma. It continued to be an end-to-end game, played with real intensity and purpose and with chances at either end. We survived a moment of danger when Welbeck smashed a 20-yard free-kick into the wall before Joao Palhinha’s effort from the edge of the box was saved by the legs of Verbruggen. Then, with 13 minutes remaining, we regained the lead in some style. Lucas Bergvall had only been in the pitch for a matter of seconds when he stole the ball off Jan Paul van Hecke which allowed Solanke to lay off to Xavi and the rest was just pure magic as he cut inside onto his right and hit a beautiful curler in off the far post.

The closing minutes were tense, almost painfully so as we desperately tried to hold onto the three points. Our task wasn’t helped as Xavi picked up a knock after we’d used our five substitutes and was struggling to get around the pitch as Brighton sensed their chance. And unfortunately it came, five minutes into stoppage time when van Hecke got the better of Danso and cut back for Rutter to slam past Kinsky. We still had time for one last chance when Archie Gray found himself with a sight of goal in the final seconds but his right-foot shot was gathered by Verbruggen and we had to settle for a point, although we probably deserved more.

Line-ups

Spurs (4-2-3-1): Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Danso, van de Ven (c), Udogie (Spence 76), Bissouma (Gray 57), Bentancur (Palhinha 67), Kolo Muani (Tel 57), Gallagher (Bergvall 76), Xavi, Solanke. Substitutes (not used): Austin, Dragusin, Maddison, Richarlison.

Brighton & Hove Albion (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen, Wieffer, van Hecke, Boscagli, Kadioglu, Ayari (Kostoulas 82), Gross, Diego Gomez (Mitoma 20, (De Cuyper 75)), Hinshelwood (O'Riley 75), Minteh, Welbeck (c) (Rutter 75). Substitutes (not used): Steele, Julio, Baleba, Veltman.

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Pedro Porro 39, Xavi 76; Brighton – Mitoma 45+3, Rutter 90+5.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Bissouma, Danso, Xavi; Brighton – Wieffer.

Referee: Stuart Attwell.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Light cloud, gentle breeze, 16 degrees.

Attendance: 61,167.

Signe Gaupset struck a stoppage time winner for Norway to beat Slovenia 3-2 in their FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifier on Saturday evening.

In a topsy-turvy game at Mestni Stadio in Ptuji, Slovenia, the home side fought back twice in the contest and they looked set to hold on to an important draw in their qualifying group but, in the second minute of stoppage time, our midfielder stepped up with a decisive goal.

With a free-kick delivered from the far right, just inside their half, Signe reacted quickest to the loose ball inside the box to slot home into the bottom corner - sparking jubilant celebration between her and her team-mates.

The 20-year-old went on to make way in the fifth minute of stoppage time, while Julie Blakstad also started the game but was an early substitute in the first half of the game.

That result continues to solidify Norway’s spot second in the group with nine points from four games so far as they edge closer to an automatic qualification spot at next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil.

Elsewhere, Matilda Vinberg continued her fine form in goal contributions, providing the assist the only goal in the contest as Sweden secured a 1-0 win at home to Serbia.

Earning a start for her nation, Tilly dropped slightly deeper to receive the ball in midfield and played a lovely, weighted pass through the Serbia defence and into the feet of Blackstenius just inside the area who took one touch before slotting home the opener five minutes into the second half.

Our young forward went on to record the only other shot on target in the second period before being replaced five minutes from time at Strawberry Arena in Solna. Amanda Nilden was an unused substitute.

Also in Group One in League A, Olivia Holdt’s Denmark were held to a goalless draw by Italy earlier in the afternoon. Oli remained on the substitute’s bench as her nation maintained an unbeaten start to the qualifying campaign.

Sweden move on to seven points, second in the group, ahead of their final two qualifiers next month against the Danes - who currently occupy top spot - and Italy as they search for an automatic qualification spot.

Toko Koga and Maika both featured for Japan in the early hours of the morning as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to USA in the third and final set of international friendlies this month. Toko started and completed 59 minutes while Maika was introduced at the start of the second half.

Roberto De Zerbi has made four changes to his side from that which started against Sunderland last Sunday.

Kevin Danso comes into the back line to replace injured captain Cristian Romero while Rodrigo Bentancur marks his return from injury to make his first appearance since January as he replaces Archie Gray in midfield.

Yves Bissouma also returns to the starting XI, coming in for Lucas Bergvall, while Xavi Simons also returns to start, with Richarlison moving to the substitutes bench.

For the first time this season, James Maddison is back in the matchday squad as he edges closer to returning to action following the anterior cruciate ligament injury which he suffered in the summer.

Starting XI: Kinsky, Danso, Xavi, Bissouma, Udogie, Solanke, Gallagher, Pedro Porro, Bentancur, van de Ven (c), Kolo Muani.

Substitutes: Austin, Spence, Dragusin, Palhinha, Gray, Bergvall, Maddison, Tel, Richarlison.

Here is how the visitors line up...

Starting XI: Verbruggen, van Hecke, Minteh, Hinshelwood, Welbeck (c), Boscagli, Kadioglu, Diego Gomez, Ayari, Wieffer, Gross.

We'll bring you a taster of the gallery from the programme here on tottenhamhotspur.com...

Next up, our programme against Brighton includes a special gallery featuring Paul Gascoigne, who became a superstar with his performances for England as Sir Bobby Robson's Three Lions reach the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup - then delivered in Lilywhite - providing the magic to get us to the 1991 FA Cup Final, including his world-class free-kick against Arsenal in the semi-final at Wembley - 35 years ago - before getting injured in the final as we came from 1-0 down to beat Forest. One of the all-time greats, a mercurial talent, Gazza scored 33 goals in 112 appearances for us before moving to Lazio in 1992.

Pictured above - Gazza's greatest day in a Spurs shirt, celebrating our 3-1 win against Arsenal in the first FA Cup semi-final to be played at Wembley - just over 35 years ago...

Our youngsters take on title-winning side Fulham in the final four of the competition at Motspur Park (2pm UK) with supporters available to attend and watch the next generation of players at the Club.

The Cottagers have recently won promotion to the third tier of the Women’s senior football pyramid after winning the FA Women’s National League Division One South East, providing a unique opportunity for our young side to go toe-to-toe with some of the very best players at this level.

We faced Fulham in our very first pre-season game of the campaign, where we lost 3-1 on the night, and Sabiha is keen to use this weekend’s encounter as a barometer of her players' growth this term.

“For us, in terms of Fulham, we know it's going to be tough,” she told us, looking ahead to the game on Sunday. “We've faced some tough opposition already [in this competition] so from what we're expecting, we're quite aware of it.

“Fulham have just gone into back-to-back promotions, the pressure is off them, they've only got this cup to focus on, so we know that that's also another thing. But, for me, it's about seeing the growth at the end of the season because we started pre-season playing Fulham, that was our first game of pre-season, and I thought we did pretty well that day. Now it's a great measure to come back towards the end of the season, months have gone past now, to see where we are at now.

“There's a little bit of excitement around the game, which I think is really good, because they know it's not going to be easy and we're going up against probably one of the better teams that we've faced across the entire season, so I think the excitement's great.”

Having already overcome Dulwich Hamlet and London Bees – who both compete in the same division as Fulham – in the previous rounds, Sabiha has praised the impact of the player pathway at the Club in the journey so far.

“The resilience is massive because we've had quite a young squad across the Under-19s and we've heavily relied on a lot of those Under-16s playing up,” she added. “So, we're going in with it with, again, just a really young side but I think that's why the cup wins have felt so great because it's been a full squad effort for a number of reasons, from first team to Under-16s.”

Tickets to watch the match are available in advance via Fulham’s ticketing website, priced at £5 for adults, seniors (65+) and young adults (18-21) while £1 for Under-18s.

Alongside attending the match at Motspur Park, key updates will be provided across our official social channels, with a full report available here on tottenhamhotspur.com and the Spurs Official app.

Looking to keep tabs on leaders Chelsea, who headed into today with a five-point lead at the summit, a victory over the Seagulls would have energised our hopes of catching the Blues however, we knew we were up against it as we faced the side just behind us in the table in third-placed Brighton.

And, in truth, we really struggled to get going at our Enfield training base as the south-coast visitors took an early lead through Jacob Parsons before Henry Kasvosve curled in and Parsons struck again in the final 30 minutes to put the game out of reach of us.

Harry Byrne did fire back with a sumptuous free-kick with a matter of minutes remaining to reduce the arrears but that was to be our only real highlight as we endured a tough day on home soil.

Across London, Chelsea ran out 5-1 winners at Fulham to move eight points clear. We have a game in hand on the Blues with four matches remaining of the campaign so we know all is not lost, but we will need a number of results to go our way in the final few weeks if we are to take top spot.

Brighton started on the front foot in north London and were quick to make their first opportunity of the game count as a neat one-two between Parsons and Bailey Palmer saw the former released into the area where he dinked the ball over Dylan Thompson to open the scoring on 10 minutes. Moments later Zac Brennan drilled an effort from range inches wide of the upright, further enforcing the visitors' early dominance.

Knowing the importance of the game, we did respond to the early setback with Tye Hall firing straight at the goalkeeper from range before Reiss Elliott-Parris had a couple of efforts - the first blocked before he prodded a cross off target - but they were half chances in truth.

On the stroke of half-time, the Seagulls came very close to doubling their advantage as Jackson Morby hooked a ball towards goal. It managed to evade Thompson in goal but thankfully Oscar Sandiford - who enjoyed a fine afternoon at full-back - was well positioned to head the ball clear from the goal line.

The visitors threat continued after the break and they grabbed their second of the afternoon just after the hour mark. Having seen substitute Billy-Rae Cullinane cut in from the left before firing just wide of the far post minutes after the restart, Kasvosve tried the same from the right 10 minutes later and managed to curl his effort delicately into the far corner of the net.

Parsons then wrapped up the points for Brighton with 10 minutes remaining as the 16-year-old showed real striker's instinct to lurk in the middle of the area, wait for the ball to find before diverting it home to see his side lead 3-0.

Despite Brighton's dominance in the scoreline, it never felt like we were ever out of the game as we always provided a threat. Whether that be from Miracle Adewole's instinctive volley which stung the hands of Liam Doyle or Armend Muslika's effort from range which he dragged just wide, we were creating chances.

Eventually, we buried one of them with Byrne curling home a free-kick on 90 minutes. It was a strike of such quality that it might have been worthy of being a match winner on most days. Alas, despite it's brilliance, it came too late leaving us with a mountain to climb in the final few weeks of the league campaign.

Line-ups

Premier League Primary Stars

What is Premier League Primary Stars?

Over the last four years, we have engaged 7,000 children across almost 100 schools through Premier League Primary Stars.

Scarlett Eddy, Lancasterian Primary School teacher: “The Foundation’s had a massive impact at school. The children are obsessed with the Stadium and Spurs, and we’ve seen attendance become more regular due to the excitement of the Foundation’s sessions.”

Premier League Primary Stars is a primary school education programme. Funded by the Premier League through the Premier League Foundation, it uses the appeal of football to help children be active and develop essential life skills.

Who can get involved?

Launched in 2017, and available to every primary school in England and Wales, we are one of more than 100 professional football club community organisations delivering Premier League Primary Stars, supporting pupils in the classroom, the playground, and on the sports field.

Premier League Primary Stars enables teachers to use resources across English, PSHE, PE and Maths, to support children to develop skills and values that are crucial to success in later life.

The free programme also provides teachers and parents with access to more than 650 downloadable resources across a range of curriculum subjects at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, developed by teachers for teachers, and in collaboration with experts such as the National Literacy Trust.

A Royal visit

Hear from Indigo and Raheim on activities they showcased in front of His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, when he visited Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in October 2024.

Indigo and Raheim are from Lancasterian Primary School, where we have delivered early morning and girls’ football clubs, support sports days and offer other targeted interventions, as part of the Premier League Primary Stars programme.

Watch the video below.

To find out more about how your school can benefit from our delivery of Premier League Primary Stars, email our education manager at andrew.wands@tottenhamhotspur.com.

Premier League Inspires

What is Premier League Inspires?

Premier League Inspires was launched in 2019 and we have since delivered it across more than 30 schools, with over 700 young people benefiting from some 5,000 hours of targeted support.

Premier League Inspires is a personal development programme, funded by the Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association through the Premier League Foundation.

The programme uses the power of football to inspire young people aged 11 to 18 to develop the personal skills and positive attitudes needed to succeed in life. It is predominantly delivered in secondary schools.

Hear from Dwayne...

Dwayne, Holy Family Catholic School student: “I was distant at home and I wasn’t really communicating, and in school I wasn’t being focused or participating.

“I liked the mentoring I received through Premier League Inspires, though. It showed me how to identify things, open up and communicate with people.

“This has helped me out a lot – I’ve been able to get myself some awards at school and stopped being distant with my mum and nan.”

Inspires

Premier League Inspires empowers participants to develop personal, social, employability and life skills, through a series of regular face-to-face group sessions, mentoring, workshops and social action projects, providing students with the help they need now and supporting them to plan for their future.

Check out when Antonin Kinsky brought 60 local school students’ time taking part in Premier League Inspires to a fittingly inspirational conclusion at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in March 2025. Follow along as participants Charlie and Mariam take you through their day in the video below.

Already assured of a place in the top eight and a home tie in the end-of-season play-offs before the game, Wayne Burnett’s side largely dominated proceedings at the Wham Stadium, home of Accrington Stanley, with goals either side of the break from the returning Max McFadden and Tynan Thompson – celebrating his 18th birthday – getting the job done.

Only a six-goal winning margin would have seen us move from eighth spot, with the final outcome leaving us on 35 points from our 20 games. Leicester City now await as we move into the knockout stage of the campaign.

More to follow.