Tottenham v Brighton: Premier League – live! | Football

38 min A nothing ball forward is headed across the area by Reguilon towards Kane, who controls it on the chest and is about to volley it towards goal when Cucurella appears on his blindside to make a vital, probably goal-saving interception.

36 min The home crowd are getting frustrated. Brighton have been excellent, even if their dominance hasn’t translated into a load of clear chances.

34 min Bentancur is booked for a lunge at Bissouma. He took the ball but then flattened Bissouma in his follow through.

33 min “Whether Kulusevski connects or not, the intent is what matters and he wasn’t even looking properly so really should have seen red,” says Tomasz Rykala.

Yeah, I typed that and then realised it was probably nonsense. I remember Cristiano Ronaldo getting sent off for a two-footed tackle on fresh air at Manchester City in 2006, so presumably the same principle applies here. I guess he was lucky to stay on.

30 min “Spurs so far playing like a team that has been reading too many good reviews of its own performances and started believing them…” says Jonathan Gresty.

I would give Brighton a fair bit of credit – when they are playing well they are a really awkward team. Don’t forget they’ve won at Arsenal and drawn away to Chelsea and Liverpool this season.

29 min Gross’s inswinging corner from the left is headed across goal by Mac Allister and cleared desperately by Bentancur.

28 min Lamptey’s cross just evades Mac Allister and is headed behind by Royal. Brighton have been the better team so far.

27 min Now Kulusevski is booked for swinging an elbow in frustration at Cucurella. He could have been sent off for that. He didn’t connect properly and Cucurella didn’t go down, which may have saved him.

26 min Glenn Hoddle, co-commentating on BT Sport, makes the point that Yves Bissouma – who is playing in front of the back three – is doing an excellent job of ensuring that Harry Kane can’t drop in and dictate play.

24 min Davies’s blind backpass is almost pinched by Mac Allister in the six-yard box. He just can’t reach it, though, and Lloris calmly clears.

23 min: Another chance for Brighton! Gross curls a deep corner to Cucurella on the edge of the area. He mishits his volley so badly that the ball goes back across to Gross on the right. Gross reacts smartly and picks out Veltman, whose snapshot is blocked in the six-yard line by Kane.

22 min: Chance for Brighton! Trossard’s header across the clear is only half cleared to the edge of the area. Mwepu charges onto the bouncing ball, twists his body and smacks a shot that deflects just wide off Davies. That was beautifully struck.

21 min Spurs have had 53 per cent of the possession, which is a surprising statistic as it feels like Brighton have controlled the tempo of the game and had more of the ball.

20 min Lamptey overhits a relatively simple pass to the underlapping Mwepu, who found a rare bit of space in the Spurs area.

19 min Trossard is booed for the crime of being whacked in the face by Emerson Royal. It was accidental but Trossard looks a bit groggy. He’s going to continue.

17 min Romero, still upfield following a corner, surges to the byline on the right side of the area and stabs a cross that is kicked behind by the keeper Sanchez. Son takes the corner short and makes a balls of it.

15 min Hojbjerg’s header forward is controlled majestically on the turn by Kane, who is about to shoot from 10 yards when Veltman slides in to make an excellent challenge. The resulting corner is flapped away by Sanchez.

13 min Dunk tries to block Kane from chasing down the goalkeeper, so Kane plants a knee into his back. That looked pretty painful, though the referee Craig Pawson doesn’t think it warrants a yellow card.

12 min Another extended spell of possession for Brighton, though it’s all front of the Spurs defence. It’s been a somnolent start to the game.

9 min Despite being the away side Brighton are dominating possession, which kind of suits both sides. Antonio Conte’s teams are often deadly on the counter-attack.

7 min The game hasn’t really got going yet. Don’t worry, if it stays like this I’ll start making up some goalmouth excitement.

5 min Brighton’s shape is interesting. They are basically playing with four central midfielders, with Bissouma behind a line of Mwepu, Gross and Caicedo.

5 min Caicedo wins the ball high up the field, and in a flash Gross is away on the left of the area. He tries to cut back inside Romero, who makes a good tackle.

2 min Mwepu is on his haunches after an accidental hand in the face from Davies. I think he might have poked Mwepu in the eye.

1 min It looks like a 3-1-5-1 for Brighton, with Lamptey and Trossard at wing-back and Mac Allister as the false nine.

1 min Peep peep! Brighton, in their mint green away kit, kick off from left to right.

The players stroll out of the tunnel into the sunshine. It’s a lovely day in north London, it says here.

“Truth and certainty have taken a huge battering over the past decade (or since 1968),” says Ian Copestake, “but if any sliver of these remain then a Spurs loss just when everyone is getting all cosy with them again would be just the ticket.”

You’ve nicked that from a Sir Alex Ferguson teamtalk haven’t you.

A reminder of the teams

Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3) Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Royal, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Reguilon; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
Substitutes: Gollini, Sessegnon, Rodon, Lavinier, Sanchez, Winks, White, Bergwijn, Lucas.

Brighton (possible 4-1-4-1) Sanchez; Lamptey, Veltman, Dunk, Cucurella; Bissouma; Gross, Mwepu, Caicedo, Mac Allister; Trossard.
Substitutes: Steele, Offiah, Webster, Lallana, Ferguson, Sarmiento, March, Maupay, Welbeck.

Matt Doherty is at the game today. Alas, he’s on crutches. His absence is a blow for Spurs because he has quietly been in outstanding form. Sergio Reguilon is a decent replacement, mind.

This is the first of four Premier League games today. The others all kick off at 3pm:

• Manchester United v Norwich City
• Southampton v Arsenal
• Watford v Brentford

As things stand Spurs are three points clear of Arsenal having played a game more.

Sergio Reguilon replaces the injured Matt Doherty, the only change from the Spurs side that hammered Aston Villa last weekend.

Graham Potter makes one change from the Brighton side that won at Arsenal last weekend. Tariq Lamptey replaces Danny Welbeck, which will mean a rejig up front. Leandro Trossard could play as a false nine. They could also switch to a back four, though Potter was giving nothing away during his pre-match interview.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Spurs v Brighton from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It’s exactly a month since the return fixture, and in that time the mood at Spurs has changed considerably. They went into that match at Brighton in seventh place, having just lost in frustrating circumstances at Old Trafford. That was Spurs’ fifth defeat in eight league games and, though there were also some stirring victories in that time, it would have surprised nobody if Antonio Conte’s agent was under the strictest instructions to spend every waking hour scrutinising some small print.

Spurs won 2-0 at the Amex Stadium, the start of an immaculate little run: four games, four wins, 14 goals scored. Just as importantly, in the same period Arsenal have haemorrhaged nine points, so Spurs are now a) in fourth and b) favourites to finish fourth. Their front three look as devastating as any in the league, quite a compliment given the quality of you know who, and two of South America’s finest – Cristiano Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur – have stiffened their spine.

Spurs are favourites to win today, though the residual taste of schadenfreude should remind them that it’s not a sure thing. Brighton won at Arsenal last Saturday, ending a stinking run of form and reminding us all what an impressive, resourceful side they are. As the doyen of minute-by-minute reports would say, it’s on!

Kick off 12.30pm.