Spurs find silver lining vs. Brighton, but not a desperately needed win

LONDON — The hits just keep on coming for Tottenham Hotspur. They looked on course for a first Premier League win in 111 days before Georginio Rutter‘s 95th-minute equalizer earned Brighton & Hove Albion a 2-2 draw on Saturday to keep Spurs in the relegation zone.

Full time felt like a funeral.

Kevin Danso, whose failure to clear the ball enabled Jan Paul van Hecke to steal in and set up Rutter, dropped to the turf. So did Pedro Porro. Xavi Simons, who had put Spurs in front with a sublime 77th-minute strike, looked on the verge of tears. Dominic Solanke trudged off with his head bowed. Television cameras picked up one Spurs fan in tears, staring at the pitch disbelievingly.

This was another devastating blow in a season full of them. And time is running out to recover. They must now watch on nervously as Nottingham Forest and West Ham United attempt to put further distance between Spurs and safety in the next 48 hours.

Tottenham’s winless run extends to 15 games. Only Derby County in 2007-08 (18) and Sunderland in 2002-03 (17) have had longer winless starts to a calendar year. Both were relegated.

This will feel especially cruel, conceding a lead in stoppage time of both halves to a Brighton team whose tireless endeavor probably deserved some sort of reward on the balance of play.

De Zerbi, inevitably, put a different spin on it with a week before they travel to rock-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers.

“The players have to listen to me,” he said. “I am proud for their performance. They have to be stronger, be focused just on the Wolverhampton game and come in the training ground on Monday afternoon with a smile because otherwise they go home immediately.

“I have no time to see the negative people, to see sad players or sad assistants. No. We are lucky because we are working in a big club, a big stadium. We are working in the Premier League.

“We have the right qualities to win the game [at Wolves] so we have to be positive. I don’t like people who cry, who think in a negative way.”

And when the dust settles, there was enough here to suggest Spurs should have hope. They did their best to rally the troops beforehand, large flags waved by the 61,167-strong crowd, buoyed by the return of Rodrigo Bentancur for the first time since Jan. 7.

De Zerbi, in his debut home game as Spurs boss, also included James Maddison in a matchday squad for the first time since 362 days following an ACL injury, and he adopted a cheerleading role alongside Guglielmo Vicario, who had not recovered in time to play. It was a further sign of the unity De Zerbi is trying to instill, having taken the players out for dinner in midweek and also insisted on the group arriving early at the stadium on Saturday.

Even when Yves Bissouma and Bentancur were substituted, both stood at the back of the Tottenham dugout with their muddied shirts still on, furiously directing play. Maddison kicked every ball as an unused substitute. Somewhere in the expensive seats, Cristian Romero applauded helplessly, having been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

The combination of all this, for a while, appeared to be working. Spurs took the lead at a time when Brighton were clearly in the ascendancy, Simons clipping in a 37th-minute cross that Porro headed past Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

Spurs have not led at halftime in any of their previous 13 league games, and they couldn’t hang on here, either, Kaoru Mitoma volleying in a stunning effort from a Pascal Groß cross.

Just when Spurs needed someone to step up, Simons did. In many ways, the 22-year-old is a poster boy for a failed season, but it appeared he had arrived just in time to save it.

After Brighton were caught playing out from the back by Lucas Bergvall, on as a substitute moments earlier, Simons worked the ball onto his right foot and curled a stunning effort in off the post. It was a moment of pure catharsis for a player who has been well below his best for much of the season, a €65 million signing from RB Leipzig whom Spurs pursued after failing with moves for Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze.

He celebrated by taking his shirt off and climbing the hoarding in front of the 17,500-seat, single-tier South Stand. It was a celebration befitting of a last-minute winner, but Spurs still had 13 minutes plus stoppage time to play.

And as the tension mounted, the noise increased and Brighton probed, Spurs caved.

Danso should have hacked Yankuba Minteh‘s cross into the stand, but instead he took a touch, allowing Van Hecke the chance to steal in and turn the ball back for Rutter to dispatch a fine first-time finish.

Despite the disastrous denouement, this was one of Tottenham’s best performances of the season. There is encouragement in key players beginning to return and Simons’ quality coming to the fore.

“I always believe in the qualities of the players,” De Zerbi said. “They played a good game. I think we can play better than today, with more quality, more calm, especially when we are in ball possession. But in this moment we need this spirit, this attitude, this mentality, and it is not finished yet. We have another five games.

“It is tough. Every one of us knows it is a tough moment, a difficult situation, but we have another five games, 15 points and this team is able to win five games in a row.

“Now it is difficult to hear my words, but if you watch the players, if you analyze the level of the players, I think we can win five games in a row. Not be arrogant, because I am not arrogant, especially now, but we have the qualities enough to fight and to win games in a row.”

But yet again, they end another weekend without that momentum-changing victory. There are only five games left. How many more hits can they take before relegation becomes real?