Can Brighton Worsen Tottenham's Relegation Fears?

Tottenham Hotspur hosts Brighton & Hove Albion in North London on April 18th at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Tottenham are currently in 18th place in the Premier League table. The Lilywhites are in the relegation zone, and their last six matches are crucial to claw their way out of relegation and stay in the Premier League. Meanwhile, Brighton sits ninth in the table. The Seagulls are cautiously optimistic about reaching European competitions for the second time in their history. In the upcoming away match, Brighton will face their former coach, Roberto De Zerbi. Spurs hired the Italian coach after firing their interim manager, Igor Tudor, after 44 days in charge. Will De Zerbi be able to overcome his former club to help his new club stay in the Premier League? Will Brighton be able to beat their former coach to brighten their hopes of European football? 

Brighton Breakdown 

The South Coast team makes the trip up to North London to face Tottenham. Lewis Dunk will not be able to play as he is suspended due to racking up a total of 10 yellow cards. On the bright side, this will be the last match for which he has to serve a suspension; therefore, he will be available for the rest of the season. In Brighton’s last away match against Burnley, Olivier Boscagli filled in that spot in the central defense. The Frenchman will most likely be Dunk’s substitute once again for the match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Adam Webster and Stefanos Tzimas are still out with season-ending injuries. Fan-favorite Solly March had a long rehab and recovery from a knee injury, but he has been on the bench lately and available for substitution. The English midfielder was on the bench during the Burnley game, but he was not used during the match. 

Brighton is on a high after a grueling period with only one win in 13 games. Currently, the Seagulls are flying with six wins out of their last seven matches in all competitions. The turnaround from the dismal season at the beginning of the year has reignited confidence in Fabian Hürzeler, Brighton’s manager. Hürzeler’s adaptability to his tactics and the specific team he is facing are key elements of the team’s better form for the last few games of the season. This upcoming match will be an interesting pairing as many of the Brighton players have previously played under De Zerbi, so they will be intimately familiar with his tactics and strategy. 

A key player for Brighton in this match will be Bart Verbruggen, who is a summer transfer target for Tottenham. The Dutch goalie will be important as he is the last wall of defense before a goal can be scored. He is still a young player and still adapting to being Brighton's established number one goalie and first-pick goalkeeper for the Netherlands national team. Under De Zerbi, he routinely had matches where he would start and not start, switching off with Brighton’s other goalie, Jason Steele. This match is important for his current club and his future club, as there are rumors that he will leave Brighton in the summer, and Tottenham is very interested in his signature. In terms of offensive play, Danny Welbeck is another key player to score the goals and get Brighton on the board early. 

Tottenham Breakdown 

In his opening game, Roberto De Zerbi did not have the best match with his new team. His return to the Premier League resulted in a loss to Sunderland, 1-0. This loss and West Ham United’s 4-0 win over Wolves plummeted Tottenham into the relegation zone. Tottenham have won only seven games this season, and they racked up a whopping tally of 16 defeats. The state of the Lilywhites’ squad does not help De Zerbi in his desperate pursuit to keep Tottenham in the Premier League. With a 1-1-5 record in their last seven, the Spurs’ form has been significantly worse than Brighton’s. An injury crisis has hit them with only six matches left until the end of the season. During the Sunderland match, club captain Cristian Romero sustained an injury and had to be substituted off the pitch. James Maddison is still nursing his long-term injury, Dejan Kulusevski is also rehabbing a season-ending injury, and Mohammed Kudus is dealing with his severe quad injury. 

Tottenham will have to rely on some younger talent from their bench. Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray are some of the younger faces who have had to step up during this injury crisis. English striker Dominic Solanke has vast experience in the Premier League, and he is finally fit enough to start for Tottenham. He will be a key player up front to keep morale up on the pitch and to score much-needed goals. The Tottenham players are also trying to settle into a new coach’s demands and formation late in the season that they will need some time to adjust. The time they do not have because the threat of relegation is over their heads. From this point on until the end of the season, Tottenham players should be in the mindset that every single match is a final and a must-win, no matter the opponent. Their teamwork and tenacity will be the only elements to help them pull themselves out of relegation. 

Match Expectations

In De Zerbi’s first five matches with Brighton, he did not record a single win. Rather, he had two draws and three losses. De Zerbi will have to scrutinize his strategy and tactics to not to repeat his first tenure in the Premier League with his new team. His tactics are high-risk and possession-based. He has his defenders bait the opposition to try to win the ball back, which opens space behind the opposition’s strikers, making more room for quick passes and moving towards the opposite goal. De Zerbi uses the goalie for long build-ups to remove the midfield and move the ball further down the field; this is a tactic that Hürzeler utilizes too. There are a few similarities between De Zerbi’s and Hürzeler’s styles of play. Both are focused on large spells of possession and prefer to build out from the back. Hürzeler’s side will bring more intensity and quickness to the game as they like to set the pace. Since De Zerbi’s tactics rely on baiting and quick movement, the game will have periods of high-energy pressing and a sudden drop in energy as the Tottenham defenders attempt to lure the Brighton players to attack the ball. 

Match Predictions 

All of Tottenham's matches are must-wins for them. However, their current form does not look as if that can be achieved, as they are languishing in relegation and many of their starting players are injured. A new coach with new strategies and promising results at other clubs might have been a quick fix for the board members of Tottenham, but the rest of the season will tell if that quick fix was enough. For Brighton, they have a more positive environment as they are firmly mid-table and hoping for qualification to European football. Looming summer transfers and losing key players may be on the horizon for them, as is their business model, buy low and sell high, but their form is formidable right now. Therefore, the prediction for this match is a win for Brighton, scoring two goals and conceding one.