Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Harry Kane scores as visitors reignite top-four hopes

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte says Harry Kane “deserves to win something” after the forward scored and starred in their Premier League win at Brighton.

It also ensured the England forward has now scored more goals away from home (95) in the competition than any other player – and lifted him above Frank Lampard into fifth, with 178 goals, on the all-time list of Premier League scorers.

“I am happy for him because in every game he has many chances to score,” Conte said.

“At the start of the season he struggled a bit and didn’t score a lot and now he knows very well with this team he has great opportunities to score in every game.

“To have a striker like him makes us stronger but at the same time his feeling now is positive because he knows he will have chances. I think he deserves to win something in his career because we are talking about a fantastic player.”

The ease with which the Italian’s side won will concern Seagulls manager Graham Potter, whose side remain 13th having won just once in their last 10 matches.

By the time Kane had driven a low effort past Robert Sanchez, Tottenham were well in control. Cristian Romero had earlier put the visitors in front, deflecting in Dejan Kulusevski’s shot past the helpless Brighton goalkeeper, and into the bottom left corner.

The result sees Conte’s side move up to seventh in the table with 48 points three points adrift of fourth-placed Arsenal having played a game more.

However, they are only two points behind fifth-placed Manchester United, level on points with West Ham and have a game in hand on both before they host the Hammers on Sunday.

Kane goes fifth in Premier League goals list

In the build-up to the game Conte had challenged his senior players to help deliver Champions League qualification and, in a show of faith, he named the same starting XI that began their defeat at Old Trafford.

Kane did not disappoint, putting a glaring early miss behind him to ensure a favourable outcome for his side.

Having charged down an attempted Sanchez clearance the 28-year-old could not contain his look of disappointment as he placed a side-footed effort wide of a vacant Brighton goal.

However, it was not to last for long and his influence grew throughout the match.

He repeatedly dropped into pockets of space in midfield, but also showed the nous to run beyond the Brighton backline as he raced onto Rodrigo Bentancur’s pass to drive a low effort past Sanchez just before the hour.

His goal leaves him in distinguished company with only Alan Shearer (260), Wayne Rooney (208), Andrew Cole (187) and Sergio Aguero (184) having scored more Premier League goals.

A Sanchez save prevented him from curling his second of the night into the top corner, while he also had a late penalty claim turned down.

Brighton’s dismal run continues

While Tottenham give the appearance of a side getting close to fulfilling their manager’s expectations, Brighton look shorn of confidence after a dismal run of form.

The Seagulls have now lost six consecutive league games for the first time since 2006, when they were in the Championship, and will come up against a Norwich side fighting for top-flight survival on Saturday 2 April in their first match after the international break.

That is followed by tough assignments at Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester City and they have the feel of a team wondering where their next points are coming from.

While they improved significantly after the break they rarely looked like cutting open the Spurs defence and unsurprisingly failed to register a single effort on target.

Player of the match

DierEric Dier

with an average of 7.53

Brighton & Hove Albion

1. Squad number3Player nameCucurella

   Average rating

   5.23

2. Squad number24Player nameDuffy

   Average rating

   5.16

3. Squad number8Player nameBissouma

   Average rating

   5.11

4. Squad number20Player nameMarch

   Average rating

   5.10

5. Squad number5Player nameDunk

   Average rating

   5.08

6. Squad number34Player nameVeltman

   Average rating

   5.04

7. Squad number11Player nameTrossard

   Average rating

   5.00

8. Squad number1Player nameSánchez

   Average rating

   4.98

9. Squad number2Player nameLamptey

   Average rating

   4.95

10. Squad number10Player nameMac Allister

    Average rating

    4.89

11. Squad number15Player nameModer

    Average rating

    4.88

12. Squad number13Player nameGroß

    Average rating

    4.86

13. Squad number9Player nameMaupay

    Average rating

    4.85

14. Squad number18Player nameWelbeck

    Average rating

    4.78

Tottenham Hotspur

1. Squad number15Player nameDier

   Average rating

   7.53

2. Squad number4Player nameRomero

   Average rating

   7.35

3. Squad number10Player nameKane

   Average rating

   7.27

4. Squad number21Player nameKulusevski

   Average rating

   7.19

5. Squad number30Player nameBentancur

   Average rating

   7.06

6. Squad number33Player nameDavies

   Average rating

   6.86

7. Squad number27Player nameLucas Moura

   Average rating

   6.84

8. Squad number1Player nameLloris

   Average rating

   6.74

9. Squad number2Player nameDoherty

   Average rating

   6.73

10. Squad number3Player nameReguilón

    Average rating

    6.63

11. Squad number23Player nameBergwijn

    Average rating

    6.31

12. Squad number7Player nameSon Heung-Min

    Average rating

    6.10

13. Squad number12Player nameEmerson Royal

    Average rating

    5.56

14. Squad number5Player nameHøjbjerg

    Average rating

    4.02