Tottenham travel to take on Brighton on Thursday aiming to maintain their top-four spot
Ange Postecolou will now be keen on pushing his side back into title contention.
A trip to The Amex is tough though, and despite their inconsistent form, Robert De Zerbi’s side remain a dangerous team to come up against.
Brighton vs Tottenham: Hard without Harry
After making their best start ever to a Premier League season, Tottenham seemed to have quickly moved on from Harry Kane.
However, in more recent weeks, his absence has been felt and a clash with Brighton represents a new challenge without their all-time top goalscorer.
Spurs have scored in six of their last eight meetings with the Seagulls in all competitions.
And Kane has scored at least once in every one of those games.
The last time they found the back of the net against Brighton without the England captain in the team was over four years ago in a 1-0 win in April 2019.
So all eyes will be on Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski to try and fill the void left by one of the best strikers in world football.
Brighton have lost their last two Premier League home games against Tottenham without scoring; they’d only lost once and scored every time in their first four at the Amex Stadium against them (W2 D1).
Tottenham did the league double over Brighton last season – it’s the fifth time they’ve won consecutive league matches against the Seagulls but have never won three in a row before.
Brighton vs Tottenham: Team news
Brighton lost Joel Veltman to injury against Arsenal and the defender looks set for a couple of months on the sidelines.
He has joined Julio Enciso, Tariq Lamptey, Adam Webster and Pervis Estupinan in the treatment room.
Barcelona loanee Ansu Fati is also expected to be out until February while Solly March is recovering from a serious knee injury.
And Kaoru Mitoma is doubtful.
As for Tottenham, James Maddison is moving ever closer to a return from injury as he nears a comeback to training in what is a huge boost for Postecoglou.
Destiny Udogie will return from his suspension which he served against Everton before Christmas.
However, Yves Bissouma will still be serving his suspension following a straight red card against Forest.
Spurs’ injury list also still remains long with Micky van de Ven, Ryan Sessegnon, Manor Solomon, Ivan Perisic and Rodrigo Bentancur all out.
Brighton haven’t won their final league game in any of the last three calendar years, losing to Arsenal at home in both 2020 and 2022, and at Chelsea in 2021.
After a seven-game winless run away from home between February and May (D2 L5), Tottenham have lost just one of their last 10 on the road in the Premier League (W6 D3), going down 2-1 at Wolves last month.
Brighton vs Tottenham: What has been said?
Ben Davies has had to fill in at centre-back for Tottenham after Micky van de Ven picked up a serious injury earlier this season.
The Welsh international has impressed and manager Postecoglou has been full of praise for him.
He said: “Ben’s still adapting to it. He’s done remarkably well.
“Centre-back is still a position where, especially in our structure, it is one of the few positions where you need guys with outstanding attributes in there.
“We’ve been very fortunate that he’s been able to fill in for us there.
“He’s really good at taking in information, he really understands the game, not just his own role but how we want to play and that’s helped him.
“Having Romero next to him helps in that sense and Vic[ario] because he’s taken a bit of a leadership role back there as well.”
Brighton are unbeaten in their last seven Premier League home games (W3 D4), since a 3-1 loss to West Ham in August. Indeed, three of the Seagulls’ last four home league defeats have come against London sides (Arsenal, Fulham, West Ham).
Tottenham have only failed to score in one of their 20 Premier League away games in 2023, finding the net in each of their last 15 on the road since a 1-0 defeat at Wolves in March.
Brighton vs Tottenham: talkSPORT coverage
This Premier League clash will take place on Thursday, December 28.
Kick-off at the Amex Stadium is scheduled for 7:30pm.
