It looked at one stage as if Tottenham would finally record their first league win of 2026 on Roberto de Zerbi’s home debut. But then Georginio Rutter scored in stoppage time to equalize for Brighton.
Tottenham coach Roberto de Zerbi made four changes for his first home game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after the 1-0 defeat to Sunderland. Danso, Bentancur, Xavi and Bissouma started in place of Romero, Gray, Bergvall and Richarlison. At the other end of the pitch, Brighton coach Fabian Hürzeler sent out the same starting XI as the previous week in the 2-0 win over Burnley.
Tottenham initially in luck
The game began at a leisurely pace with Spurs slightly superior but not really dangerous. There was only one incident in the Brighton penalty area, but referee Stuart Attwell saw no reason to award a penalty. After half an hour, the visitors became increasingly active. In the 33rd minute, Tottenham were extremely lucky not to fall behind to an own goal from van de Ven – the ball bounced against the post. Shortly afterwards, Welbeck also failed to beat Kinsky with a header (35′).
In this Brighton pressure phase, however, Spurs suddenly took the lead: Xavi’s cross flew past Verbruggen and Pedro Porro only had to head into the empty goal – the stadium exploded (39′). And Xavi could even have made it 2:0 with the very next action, but his shot from the best position only hit the right post – Pedro Porro missed the follow-up shot (42′).
Mitoma silences the stadium
Just before the break, Mitoma then silenced the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium again by beautifully heading a cross from Groß under the crossbar with a direct shot (45.+3). With the last action before the break, Brighton almost made it 2:1, but Hinshelwood’s header narrowly missed the left-hand corner (45.+6).
In the second half, there were not many noteworthy penalty area actions at first. Only a careless move by Verbruggen almost caused danger, as Gallagher blocked the ball on a high run-up. However, the ball was not on target (59′). Xavi’s big moment came in the 77th minute: the ex-Leipzig player approached the penalty area on the half-left, took the ball to the right and then shot from 16 meters. His shot went beautifully against the inside of the right-hand post and from there into the goal. Then there was no stopping him. But there were still around 20 minutes to go for Spurs.
Danso loses the ball and Rutter scores the equalizer
Not much happened in the closing stages until Danso lost the ball in his own penalty area in stoppage time. Van Hecken played the ball back to Rutter, who struck the Spurs goal with a neat finish under the crossbar. Tottenham thus continue to wait for their first league win of 2026 and remain in a relegation spot.
The beleaguered side have their next chance to finally pick up three points next Saturday (4pm) at bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton. Brighton already play at home against Chelsea on Tuesday (9pm).
