Agency :
Dele Alli got Tottenham back on track as the England midfielder capped a gritty escape act with the late winner in Thursday’s 2-1 victory against Brighton.
Jose Mourinho’s side were in danger of a second successive Premier League defeat when Adam Webster headed Brighton into a shock lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But Harry Kane equalised after the interval and Alli finished off a flowing Tottenham move in the closing stages to erase the bitter taste of last weekend’s acrimonious London derby loss to Chelsea.
“I’m very happy with second half. I’m not saying players were wrong but we changed bits and that makes a difference,” Mourinho said.
“It’s hard after a defeat to have confidence and we started poorly, it affects the confidence. Brighton have monsters in the air and it affected the self-esteem of our team.
“In the second half the players put all the negative aside and were very strong in their performance.”
Avenging their defeat at Brighton in October, Tottenham, unbeaten in Boxing Day fixtures since 2003, have won three of their last four league games as they try to climb into the top four.
Saluting Alli’s crucial contribution, Mourinho said: “Another goal and another incredible performance and effort. The work rate was absolutely incredible from Dele.
“The little details are more important than what people look at. His attitude and fighting spirit was so good.”
That Chelsea setback was completely overshadowed by the alleged racist abuse of Blues defender Antonio Rudiger by Tottenham fans after his role in Son Heung-min’s red card.
Amid widespread calls for stronger action to stamp out racism in football, Tottenham fans appeared to behave better this time.
Since Mourinho’s first game in charge of Tottenham, no Premier League team had conceded more goals than the 14 his side allowed across all competitions heading into this round of matches.
Those defensive frailties were on display when Steven Alzate lost his marker and forced Paulo Gazzaniga into a sprawling save.
Kane has a knack of scoring on Boxing Day and the Tottenham striker thought he had netted again when he fired home from Winks’ pass, but the goal went to a VAR review and was ruled out by the narrowest of offside decisions.
Brighton made the most of that let-off to take the lead in the 37th minute.
Dele Alli got Tottenham back on track as the England midfielder capped a gritty escape act with the late winner in Thursday’s 2-1 victory against Brighton.
Jose Mourinho’s side were in danger of a second successive Premier League defeat when Adam Webster headed Brighton into a shock lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But Harry Kane equalised after the interval and Alli finished off a flowing Tottenham move in the closing stages to erase the bitter taste of last weekend’s acrimonious London derby loss to Chelsea.
“I’m very happy with second half. I’m not saying players were wrong but we changed bits and that makes a difference,” Mourinho said.
“It’s hard after a defeat to have confidence and we started poorly, it affects the confidence. Brighton have monsters in the air and it affected the self-esteem of our team.
“In the second half the players put all the negative aside and were very strong in their performance.”
Avenging their defeat at Brighton in October, Tottenham, unbeaten in Boxing Day fixtures since 2003, have won three of their last four league games as they try to climb into the top four.
Saluting Alli’s crucial contribution, Mourinho said: “Another goal and another incredible performance and effort. The work rate was absolutely incredible from Dele.
“The little details are more important than what people look at. His attitude and fighting spirit was so good.”
That Chelsea setback was completely overshadowed by the alleged racist abuse of Blues defender Antonio Rudiger by Tottenham fans after his role in Son Heung-min’s red card.
Amid widespread calls for stronger action to stamp out racism in football, Tottenham fans appeared to behave better this time.
Since Mourinho’s first game in charge of Tottenham, no Premier League team had conceded more goals than the 14 his side allowed across all competitions heading into this round of matches.
Those defensive frailties were on display when Steven Alzate lost his marker and forced Paulo Gazzaniga into a sprawling save.
Kane has a knack of scoring on Boxing Day and the Tottenham striker thought he had netted again when he fired home from Winks’ pass, but the goal went to a VAR review and was ruled out by the narrowest of offside decisions.
Brighton made the most of that let-off to take the lead in the 37th minute.
