Overview
Coach Roberto De Zerbi is having a difficult start at Tottenham Hotspur. His early days at the London team could hardly be worse: failure, no goals and another serious injury.
In a match where Spurs lost captain Cristian Romero due to a knee injury and had to rest for the rest of the season, "The Spurs" suffered their 16th defeat in the Premier League this season. The goal conceded came from Nordi Mukiele's shot that hit someone and changed direction, causing Tottenham's defense to fall into chaos in the away match against Sunderland.
Despite certain improvements in playing style, Tottenham still cannot convert them into points. The white team continues to sink deeper in the relegation battle when they are 2 points behind the safe position, in the context that there are only 6 rounds left in the season.
The 14-match winless streak in the Premier League since the beginning of 2026 is pushing Spurs into an alarming situation. This is the fourth long winless streak in the league history since the beginning of the solar year. And more worryingly, all 3 teams with longer streaks have been relegated.
A rare highlight is the 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, but this result is not very meaningful. With only 10 points won at home in the 2025-2026 season, Tottenham is having the worst home record in the league.
In the opposite direction, Brighton is showing impressive form. "The Seagulls" have won all 9 points in the last 3 rounds - almost equal to the total points Spurs have at home for the whole season.
Teams like Sunderland, Liverpool and Burnley have all fallen to Brighton in recent weeks. Most recently, Mats Wieffer's double helped this team defeat Burnley 2-0 right at Turf Moor.
In addition to two victories against Brentford and Nottingham Forest, Brighton has only lost to the top team Arsenal in the recent period. They have won 15 points in the last 6 rounds - the best record in the league.
Currently ranked 9th and only 2 points behind Chelsea, Brighton is aiming for a historic milestone with 4 consecutive away wins in the Premier League. Notably, all 3 of their recent away wins have been clean sheets.
In their most recent away game in London, Brighton crushed Tottenham 4-1 in the final round of the 2024-2025 season, before extending their unbeaten streak against Spurs to 3 matches with a 2-2 draw in September.
Personnel situation
Although Tottenham has not made an official announcement, many sources say that Romero will have to be sidelined until the end of the season due to a torn part of the inner cruciate ligament. However, this injury is said not to affect the Argentine center-back's chances of participating in the World Cup.
Currently, Romero is on Spurs' long list of injured players, including Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert and James Maddison (knee), along with Mohammed Kudus (leg), Ben Davies (ankle), Rodrigo Bentancur (leg) and Guglielmo Vicario (hernia). Among these, Vicario may be back in time for the weekend.
Kevin Danso is expected to replace Romero in defense for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Mathys Tel and Xavi Simons have the opportunity to compete for a starting spot after Spurs' ineffective attacking performance at Stadium of Light.
On Brighton's side, Fabian Hurzeler also faces a personnel loss when captain Lewis Dunk continues to serve a second match suspension for receiving enough 10 yellow cards.
In addition, Adam Webster and Stefanos Tzimas are still unable to play due to knee injuries. However, Brighton may welcome the return of James Milner, after this veteran only suffered a minor injury in the pre-match training session against Burnley.
Expected lineup:
Kinsky, Porro, Danso, Van de Ven, Udogie, Gray, Gallagher, Tel, Simons, Richarlison, Solanke.
Verbruggen, Wieffer, Van Hecke, Boscagli, Kadioglu, Ayari, Gross, Gomez, Hinshelwood, Minteh, Welbeck.
The match between Tottenham and Brighton takes place at 11:30 PM on April 18 (Vietnam time).
