Resilient Spurs battle back to draw at Brighton
Tottenham Hotspur came from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Brighton and Hove Albion at Amex Stadium, where Jan Paul van Hecke scored a late own goal.
Thomas Frank seemed to be staring down the barrel of a second Premier League defeat as Spurs boss, but the visitors lodged a second-half fightback to temporarily move up to second on the Premier League table.
Against the run of play, Yankuba Minteh put Brighton ahead in the eighth minute, beating Spurs' offside trap before rounding Guglielmo Vicario and finishing into an empty net.
The Seagulls doubled the advantage 23 minutes later as Yasin Ayari caught Vicario off-guard with a stunning long-range effort.
Yet Richarlison managed to halve the deficit just before half-time, slotting home after Mohammed Kudus’s effort fell kindly to him.
Second-half substitute Xavi Simons made a much-needed impact off the bench, creating two chances of his own before playing a role in Spurs' 82nd-minute equaliser.
The Dutchman skipped past a challenge before spraying the ball to Kudus, whose cross seemed to take a flick off Joao Palhinha before diverting in off the unfortunate Van Hecke.
"I thought we looked extremely strong. I am very happy with the overall performance," Frank, whose side has 10 points from five games with its only league loss coming at home to Bournemouth, said.
"It was potentially our best performance of the season. What I loved from the players was the mentality. This group came here last year, went 2-0 up and then lost 3-2, now we are 2-0 down and get 2-2, and we are closer to the three points.
"We have to be more ruthless sometimes; be more stable in some moments, but we have to see the positives," Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler said.
