Tottenham Hotspur will be eager to build on a solid run of form when they take on Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
The 2025/26 Premier League season resumes this weekend with Gameweek 5. The latest round of fixtures starts with the Merseyside Derby between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield before the action continues with four simultaneous matches, including Brighton & Hove Albion vs Tottenham Hotspur at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton & Hove Albion have endured a typical yo-yo style of results in the first month of the 2025/26 season. The Seagulls have won and drawn two games thus far while playing out a stalemate to kick off the new campaign. Fabian Hurzeler’s men come into Saturday’s clash on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth, and the German tactician will demand a better display from his charges.
On the other hand, Tottenham Hotspur could not have asked for a better start to life under Thomas Frank. While the North London club would have been gutted after the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup, they have won four of their five subsequent matches, keeping a clean sheet in each victory.
The corresponding fixture last season saw Brighton & Hove Albion come from two goals down to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2, with Danny Welbeck scoring the match-winning goal. The Hard Tackle looks closer at the encounter ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides.
Team News & Tactics
Brighton & Hove Albion
Fabian Hurzeler has a new injury concern that is hampering his preparations ahead of his side’s latest fixture. The Brighton & Hove Albion manager will be bereft of the services of four first-team players vs Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Jack Hinshelwood is the latest absentee after he picked up an ankle injury last weekend against Bournemouth. The 20-year-old has joined Adam Webster and Solomon March in the treatment room, with the duo recovering from long-term knee injuries.
However, there are many positive updates, as Diego Gomez and Mats Wieffer are fit and available. Meanwhile, Maxim De Cuyper faces a late fitness test to determine his readiness to take on Tottenham this weekend.
Bart Verbruggen is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Brighton & Hove Albion lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him vs Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. The backline will feature Joel Veltman, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, and Ferdi Kadioglu. Wieffer and De Cuyper may start as the full-backs if Hurzeler reckons the duo is ready to start.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Carlos Baleba and Yasin Ayari in the double pivot. Georginio Rutter will reprise the no. 10 role, with Yankuba Minteh and Kaoru Mitoma being the two wide attackers. Finally, Danny Welbeck will lead the line for Brighton & Hove Albion against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Veltman, van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, Mitoma; Welbeck
Tottenham Hotspur
Unlike his counterpart in the Brighton & Hove Albion dugout, Thomas Frank has no new issues to worry about ahead of the trip to the Amex Stadium. The Tottenham Hotspur manager will be without as many as half a dozen first-team players on Saturday.
James Maddison (knee), Dominic Solanke (ankle), and Dejan Kulusevski (knee) are the most notable absentees, with the trio accompanying Radu Dragusin (knee), Kota Takai (ankle) and Yves Bissouma (unspecified) on the sidelines.
Guglielmo Vicario is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Tottenham Hotspur lining up in a 4-3-3 formation in front of him vs Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. The backline will feature Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, and Destiny Udogie.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Pape Matar Sarr, Joao Palhinha, and Lucas Bergvall in the middle of the park. Finally, Richarlison will spearhead the Tottenham attack against Brighton & Hove Albion, with Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus completing the numbers in the offensive third.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Vicario; Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie; Sarr, Palhinha, Bergvall; Kudus, Richarlison, Simons
Key Stats
- Brighton & Hove Albion completed a Premier League double vs Tottenham Hotspur last season, the only time they have ever won successive league meetings with Spurs. The Lilywhites have lost away to Brighton in the two most recent campaigns, but they have never previously lost on three consecutive visits.
- Brighton & Hove Albion have lost just one of their last ten home Premier League matches (W6 D3), and they are unbeaten in six at the Amex (W3 D3) since a 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa in April.
- Tottenham have won both their Premier League away games thus far in the 2025/26 season by an aggregate score of 5-0; not since November 2020 under Jose Mourinho have they won three consecutive Premier League matches on the road (run of four).
- Brighton & Hove Albion have the lowest PPDA in the Premier League this season (9.5); they have also recorded the most shots following high turnovers, attempting eight from 31 thus far. However, only Chelsea (14) and Manchester City (12) have created more “big chances” in the Premier League this season than Brighton (10), with the Seagulls scoring from four of those opportunities, the eighth-best conversion rate.
- Yankuba Minteh has the highest take-on success rate among players with 10+ attempted in the Premier League this season (65% – 13/20); only Oscar Bobb (10) has recorded more take-ons in the opposition’s box than Minteh (6).
Player to Watch
Xavi Simons
While Richarlison, Georginio Rutter, and Yankuba Minteh were viable candidates for this section, we have picked Xavi Simons as the Player to Watch for Saturday’s Premier League clash between Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur at the Amex Stadium.
After assisting on his Premier League debut for Tottenham, Simons has now been involved in eight goals across his last ten top-flight league appearances (G4 A4). The Dutchman has been hot off the blocks in his career in England, and Thomas Frank will turn to the new arrival for game-changing creative output in the final third.
Prediction
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
It has been hard to get past a resolute Tottenham backline in the 2025/26 season, and that will frustrate Brighton & Hove Albion this weekend. However, a solid defensive display by the home side may frustrate Tottenham after West Ham United showed the template last week.
Saturday’s match has the makings of a closely-contested affair, and the deadlock may remain unbroken until the second half. However, the visitors have the quality to clinch three points, although Brighton will not go down without a fight. The Hard Tackle predicts a 2-1 win for Thomas Frank and his charges.
