Tottenham Hotspur host Brighton & Hove Albion at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, on matchday 33 of the Premier League campaign.
Spurs leads the race to finish 4th as recent results have been much more than favouring for Antonio Conte’s men but any slip up will mean that they will again depend on the results of other teams to ensure a place in the Champions League next season. On the other hand, Potter’s Brighton & Hove Albion had a dream run in the initial spell of 10 games in the Premier League this season and now they will be hoping to end the season with such similar results.
WHERE AND WHEN?
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Date: Saturday, 16th April 2022.
Time: 12:30 (BST).
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Craig Pawson.
Assistant referee: Ian Hussin, Dan Robathan.
Fourth official: Tony Harrington.
VAR: Lee Mason.
Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis
TEAM NEWS
Spurs have been hit by a major injury blow as Doherty has been ruled out for the rest of the season after he was subbed off in the last game against Aston Villa as he took a knock to his knee. Doherty adds up to the injury list with Skipp and Tanganga who remain out of the tie.
Potter will be a happy man when it comes to injuries as last game week, he welcomed back Webster after a long spell and now Moder remains the only player to be out for the Brighton team who still continues his ACL injury recovery.
MATCH ANALYSIS
Brighton enters the match after pulling off a surprise win against North London giants, Arsenal, denting their top 4 hopes. Can they pull off another win against the North London club and impact their top 4 position?
Graham Potter and his boys were exceptional in their game against Arsenal as they ended their winless streak and they did it in some fashion. The team was resilient for the whole match to hold up Arsenal and only conceded in the dying minutes, a goal that did not had much of an impact on the game. The goals from Mwepu and Trossard were the headline makers and did portray how good Potter can make his teamwork. Sitting 11th in the league, Brighton might be heading to their best-ever finish in the league. But a win here will be more impacting to Spurs who just want to maintain the lead over the other top 4 contenders.
Antonio Conte has finally lived up to the expectations as he has managed to find a balance in the squad. The front 3 of Kane, Son and Kulusevski look very lethal up top and the defence has taken up the responsibility well. Scoring 12 in the last 3 matches, the team is in form and is presenting itself as one of the most in-form teams. Injury to Doherty would be worrying for the squad, but they have a good bench strength to compensate with Reguilon most likely to take the place.
Both teams have already faced each other twice this season, with Tottenham Hotspur winning both games. The last game which was played not so long ago, saw Spurs registering a 2-0 win in a game where Harry Kane looked more than impressive. The game was a complete performance by the Spurs team and a similar performance will ensure 3 points in the game.
PLAYER ANALYSIS
Dejan Kulusevski
When Antonio Conte wants a player, he knows what he is heading for! After completing the high-profile loan move, Dejan Kulusevski adjusted very quickly to Premier League football and added a flair to the Spurs attack. With Kane and Son already being the best duo in the league, Kulusevski has been pretty impressive in matching the levels set by the duo and going shoulder-to-shoulder in terms of goal contributions. In his 11 outings, he has netted thrice and has also assisted 6 times. He has been rated very highly by the various player rating sites and has termed him as one of the best players for the North London outfit this season. He was impressive in the return fixture against Brighton as it was his shot that helped Romero register a goal and was also running in channels to create all sorts of problems for the Seagulls. Him on the left of Brighton’s defence against Cucurella will be a battle to look on to.
Marc Cucurella
Talking about signings, one cannot just ignore the business by Brighton as they landed one of the finest full-backs in form of Cucurella. The Spaniard has been fairly impressive for his squad and was in the headlines after the game against Arsenal. While the Brighton fans were full of praises as Cucurella was fairly well against Saka and made some impressive defensive contributions which included 13 ball recoveries, Arsenal fans still are ranting about him playing Martinelli onside. Cucurella’s versatility has helped Potter a lot as the Spaniard has put in a shift as the third center back in Webster’s absence and now might be moving to his favoured left side where he will have the freedom to attack. Holding on to Kulusevski will be key to stopping Spurs from hitting on counters, and Cucrella’s presence will be key to stop Tottenham from outrunning the Brighton defence.
PREDICTED XIs
Tottenham predicted XI: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
Brighton predicted XI: Sanchez; Veltman, Dunk, Webster; Lamptey, Bissouma, Mwepu, Cucurella; Mac Allister, Trossard; Maupay.
