Tottenham 2-1 Brighton: Johnson grabs stoppage time winner to lift Spurs to fourth
Tottenham Hotspur returned to the Premier League's top four after substitute Brennan Johnson scored deep in stoppage time to secure a 2-1 home victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Johnson slammed the ball high into the net following a low cross from Tottenham captain Son Heung-min, who had started on the bench after returning from Asian Cup duty.
Son's introduction, shortly after Pape Matar Sarr equalised for the hosts, elicited the loudest cheer of the day until Johnson's winner in the seventh minute of extra time.
Tottenham had to work hard after falling behind early on to a Pascal Gross penalty following a foul on Danny Welbeck.
They improved after the break, however, and levelled in the 61st minute when Sarr tucked in a rebound after his initial low cross deflected against the post.
A point apiece would have sufficed, but Johnson's late performance sent Tottenham fans home ecstatic, propelling their team to fourth place, ahead of Aston Villa, with 47 points from 24 games.
"It was a great finish for us and the supporters," Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, who finally has the luxury of an almost full-strength squad, said.
"It's a reward for our second half efforts but we weren't great in the first half. Part of that was because Brighton are a great team and we lacked some discipline."
Postecoglou praised Son, Tottenham's talisman now that Harry Kane has left, saying: "We had a world-class player in Son, who makes the most difficult ball look simple to set up Brennan."
Son returned to action earlier than he had hoped or expected following South Korea's surprise defeat by Jordan in the Asian Cup semi-finals, which was heartbreaking for Son, who scored three goals in the tournament to go with 13 for his club.
The manager chose not to put him on right away, but when he did, Son once again proved to be his team's catalyst, giving Spurs a new level of energy and providing the perfect low cross from the left wing that Johnson could not miss.
Brighton were without their manager, Roberto De Zerbi, who was serving a touchline ban.
They took the lead in the 17th minute when Tottenham's Micky van de Ven, who had already gotten away with one bad mistake, was penalised for fouling Danny Welbeck in the area, and Gross sent Guglielmo Vicario the wrong way from the spot.
Richarlison, the in-form Tottenham striker, had his team's best chances before halftime but failed to find the target, while James Maddison curled a stunning effort just wide.
Tottenham were far sharper in the second half, and Sarr's cool finish, after being played in down the right by Dejan Kulusevski, came as Brighton were under attack.
However, the visitors regrouped and appeared to be just as likely to come away with three points. Substitute Ansu Fati came close to restoring Brighton's lead, but his shot from Kaoru Mitoma's cutback went just wide.
In the end, Brighton's adventurous spirit proved to be their undoing when they were caught on a turnover, with Son and Johnson combining to punish the visitors and secure the victory.
SportsLigue