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| Aaron Connolly scored twice as the 19-year-old Irish striker made his first Premier League start |
Tottenham’s miserable week continued as they followed their Champions League humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich with a damaging defeat at Brighton.
After their 7-2 drubbing in midweek, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was expecting a response from his players, only for goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to gift Neal Maupay a bizarre opener.
The Spurs captain suffered a freak arm injury in the process, and Aaron Connolly compounded Tottenham’s problems by doubling Brighton’s lead on his first Premier League start.
And although Spurs made a positive start to the second half, Connolly killed off any hope of them launching a fightback as the 19-year-old Irish striker produced a well-taken strike for his second goal to seal Brighton’s first home win since March.
Tottenham have now failed to win in their last away 10 games in the Premier League, stretching back to a 2-1 victory at Fulham on 20 January.
Last week’s home win against Southampton offered Spurs some relief after being dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two Colchester but the pressure is now mounting on Pochettino with his side having now taken 11 points from a possible 24 this term.
After being at fault for Southampton’s goal last Saturday, Lloris committed another glaring error in just the third minute as he tried to catch a Pascal Gross cross instead of tipping it over the crossbar and his momentum saw him stagger backwards into his own goal.
The France captain dropped the ball before he crossed the goal-line, allowing compatriot Maupay to head home, but injured his arm as he tried to break his fall and had to be replaced by Paulo Gazzaniga.
And although the substitute keeper blocked a close-range effort by Connolly, the youngster slammed in the rebound.
Lewis Dunk then released Connolly down the left and he cut inside before firing inside the far post to secure Brighton’s second win of the season.
It was also Graham Potter’s first win at the Amex, lifting the Seagulls to 12th before the afternoon kick-offs, with Tottenham set to slip out of the top six.
