Harry Kane on target as Tottenham end tough week with victory at Brighton

Harry Kane’s 22nd-minute goal ensured Tottenham ended a difficult week with a lift after a 1-0 Premier League win at Brighton.

Spurs suffered a derby defeat at rivals Arsenal last Saturday but worse news was to follow on Thursday when it was announced that club fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone had died at the age of 61.

It left everyone at Tottenham stunned, especially Antonio Conte who had known the highly-respected Italian for almost three decades but his players honoured Ventrone in the best possible way by ensuring they got back to winning ways in the Premier League.

"It's been a difficult week to say the least and it was nice to get the win today," said Kane.

"It was a bit of a scrappy goal, Son [Heung-min] whipped one in with pace and it went in. We managed to get the win and we know it's a difficult place to come.

"We've just got to recover and prepare for the Champions League midweek. I'm feeling good and scoring goals so hopefully that continues."

While the result spoiled Roberto De Zerbi’s home debut, the new Seagulls boss would have been encouraged by a fine display from his side, who have dropped to sixth in the table.

This was De Zerbi’s first match at the Amex Stadium but another Italian took centre stage ahead of kick-off with a minute’s applause taking place for Ventrone.

The recent death of Spurs’ fitness coach had occurred during an already tough week where defeat at Arsenal was followed by a stalemate against Frankfurt.

Conte ripped up his playbook as a result and switched to a 3-5-2 formation with Matt Doherty and Yves Bissouma handed rare starts.

It immediately paid dividends with Son Heung-min testing Robert Sanchez early on and Doherty firing over from a Ryan Sessegnon cross in the 11th-minute.