Harry Kane settles fiery clash to douse Brighton’s European dreams

How might being the leading man in a pair of touchline tear-ups affect Roberto De Zerbi’s candidacy to become the next Tottenham manager? The Italian had been long banished from the sidelines when Harry Kane, scored a goal that denied Brighton when they had been the team exhibiting an attacking style Spurs fans might recognise as adjacent to the “glory game” ideal that underpins their club.

Kane, thrashing home Pierre-Emile Højberg’s pass, had been reduced to feeding off scraps but his goal revived Tottenham’s fading push for the Champions League. Kane’s erstwhile partner in crime, Son Heung-min , came to the party in scoring Spurs’ first of a game that had fizzed up even before kick-off.

In looking ahead to meeting his fellow Italian, Cristian Stellini had recalled De Zerbi as an “aggressive” opponent in their playing days as defender and attacking midfielder respectively. A pre-match altercation between the pair suggested that not gone down well, and that neither has lost much fire; De Zerbi was markedly the more aggressive as they exchanged views. Promising for those who hoped for the slugfest between ailing giant versus progressive new force that followed.

Brighton were attempting to repeat last season’s 1-0 win, a late winner scored by Leandro Trossard, with midfield controlled by soon-to-be Tottenham misfit Yves Bissouma. Where last year Brighton were the plucky provincial outsiders, they were the bookmakers’ clear favourites to close the gap between sixth and fifth this time around.

When the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo joined their attacking trio, De Zerbi’s team exhibited an attacking verve rarely seen in the N17 postcode since Ossie Ardiles was throwing caution to the mid-1990s wind.