Tottenham player ratings vs Brighton: Kudus stars, Simons threatens and Vicario falters | OneFootball

Xavi Simons came off the bench for a promising display in the No10 role as Kudus looked dangerous throughout

Your matchday briefing on Tottenham, featuring team news and expert analysis from Matt Verri

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Tottenham came from two-goals down to earn a 2-2 draw with Brighton at the Amex Stadium.

Spurs had suffered painful defeats on the south coast in each of the last two seasons and looked on course for a hat-trick here. Yankuba Minteh charged clean in behind to go round Vicario and open the scoring, before Yasin Ayari hammered in a second from distance.

Thomas Frank’s side pulled one back before half-time when Richarlison scrambled the ball in and they spent much of the second half on the front foot. Their reward came with eight minutes remaining when Jan Paul van Hecke turned into his own net.

Matt Verri was at the Amex to rate the Spurs players...

Guglielmo Vicario 4

Made a complete mess of things for Ayari’s goal, a strike he had to save. Also went to ground early as Minteh rounded him for the opener.

Pedro Porro 6

Key to Spurs’ tactic of going long. Some lovely passes, including one to play Richarlison in on goal. Did a decent job up against Kaoru Mitoma, too.

Cristian Romero 6

Aggressive in man-marking but it didn’t always work. Booked late on. Line-breaking passes from deep are important when the midfield in front of him can be a bit stodgy.

Micky van de Ven 5

At fault for Minteh’s goal, leaving the defence exposed as he rashly charged up the pitch. As ragged as he’s looked this season.

Destiny Udogie 7

Spurs’ best player in the early stages as he charged forward on the overlap and got in behind Brighton more than once. Final ball needs work but he offered more in attack than Djed Spence does.

Udogie put in a solid shift on his first start of the season

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Joao Palhinha 7

All-action in midfield as ever. Crucial in turning the ball over and played a role in the equaliser as he jumped for Kudus’ cross and put Van Hecke off.

Rodrigo Bentancur 5

Loose on the ball and did little to protect the defence when Brighton broke on Spurs. Replaced on the hour mark as Frank looked for more creativity.

Mohammed Kudus 8

So direct and relished his battle with Ferdi Kadioglu. Looked the most likely to unlock the Brighton defence and his brilliant cross was turned into his own net by Van Hecke.

Kudus was a menace against Brighton’s backline all afternoon

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Lucas Bergvall 7

Grew into the match and was everywhere in the second half, throwing himself into challenges and driving Spurs up the pitch.

Wilson Odobert 5

Failed to take a rare chance to start. Poor decision making and showed no composure when the ball dropped for him in the first half, slicing it wide.

Richarlison 6

Scrambled well for his goal but a largely frustrating display. Stayed down too long appealing for a free-kick in the build-up to Brighton’s second goal and struggled to hold up the ball.

Substitutes:

Xavi Simons (Bentancur 61’) 8

Hugely exciting cameo in the No10 role. Drove forward from deep, tested Bart Verbruggen with a dangerous curling effort and slid a couple of lovely passes through to team-mates.

Simons was a constant threat when he came on in the second half

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Brennan Johnson (Odobert 72’) 5

Little impact on the left wing after coming on, with Spurs’ threat coming on the opposite flank.

Destiny Udogie (Porro 89’) N/A

Archir Gray (Bergvall 89’) N/A