Roberto De Zebri accuses Cristian Stellini of disrespect

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi accused Cristian Stellini of a lack of respect after watching his side lose 2-1 at Tottenham in a fiery encounter.

Drama occurred before kick-off when De Zerbi was involved in a heated exchange with Spurs' acting head coach Stellini and could be seen pointing animatedly at his fellow Italian.

It was the catalyst for a chaotic clash between the two top-four rivals, with both managers sent off, two Brighton goals disallowed and in the end efforts from Son Heung-min and Harry Kane enough to negate Lewis Dunk’s leveller and earn Spurs a vital three points.

"I am used always to respecting everyone inside of the pitch and outside of the pitch," De Zerbi explained before he declined to reveal the exact reason for his irritation with Stellini.

"I don’t like it when people don’t respect me, but there are normal situations in football.

"It is personal things, no?

"I always respect everyone, especially the coaches. And I can answer for me, not for him.

"It was a personal situation and I told him what was my opinion, my idea. Not the words, not nothing, only my opinion."

After De Zerbi and Stellini’s prickly pre-match greeting, Son initially took centre stage with a superb curled effort to score his 100th goal in the Premier League.

Brighton responded and Kaoru Mitoma had a goal disallowed after he controlled the ball with his bicep before Dunk headed home in the 34th minute from Solly March’s corner.

Danny Welbeck had the ball in the net early in the second half for the visitors, but the effort was ruled out after it hit the hand of team-mate Alexis Mac Allister before it beat Hugo Lloris.

There followed a melee between both sets of coaches and, although Stellini stayed out of the action, he was sent off for