A Review of Tottenham's Run-in Before the Brighton Match

For 20,148 minutes Tottenham fans were on top of the world. Starting with the 6-1 away thrashing of Manchester United and ending in the 81st minute of what looked like another standout victory for Spurs against West Ham. In the next 12 minutes, Tottenham conceded three goals and, as a result, 2 points.

After defeating Burnley the next game week, those two points would have seen them joint top of the table with Everton and Liverpool after 6 match weeks.

The Burnley game was a drab but effective performance in which Tottenham kept their first clean sheet of the Premier League Campaign. Another Kane-to-Son connection secured the 1-0 victory, and once again the feeling around Spurs was positive.

Tottenham are not the only of the big six clubs to drop points against inferior opposition this year, but there is a distinct feeling of having missed out on a chance to get ahead in the table while other big teams are dealing with injury issues.

The last fixture before the upcoming home game against Brighton was a Europa League group stage game away at Royal Antwerp. Antwerp finished fourth in the Belgian first division last year and, like Tottenham, qualified for the group stages through play-in games.

Tottenham Manager Jose Mourinho fielded an entirely new starting 11 against Antwerp, save for Lloris, and the lack of chemistry was apparent as Spurs looked sluggish in the first half. An individual error by (the left back playing centre back) Ben Davies led to a 29th minute opening goal for Antwerp.

Four halftime substitutions, including the red-hot Kane and Son, did not turn things around and Spurs failed to score for the second time since the start of the new season.

Tottenham go into this weekend's matchup with Brighton in precarious form. Before the loss to Antwerp, Spurs had gone 10 games unbeaten. More than once this season, however, Tottenham have ended up drawing games in which they were winning late.

Winning against Brighton, who have hardly been lighting the world on fire so far this year, should be the expected result. Three potentially vital points in a wide open title race.