Brighton 3-2 Tottenham: Danny Welbeck completes stunning Seagulls comeback as Spurs collapse
Danny Welbeck sealed a remarkable comeback as Brighton came from two goals down at half-time to beat Tottenham 3-2 at the Amex Stadium.
Spurs had looked set to cruise to a sixth consecutive win heading into the international break, after Brennan Johnson scored for the sixth match on the bounce and James Maddison then saw his finish from the edge of the box squirm through Bart Verbruggen.
The Seagulls, though, emerged from the break a new team, as three goals in the space of 18 minutes turned the match around in dramatic fashion.
Yankuba Minteh pulled one back after Destiny Udogie failed to clear a cross, before Georginio Rutter worked space for the shot and drilled low beyond Guglielmo Vicario.
The momentum was all with Brighton and they got the third goal to show for it, taking the lead for the first time as Rutter did brilliantly to somehow bundle through the challenges and loop the ball into the middle, where former Arsenal striker Welbeck was waiting to head home.
There was no Spurs response in the final 20 minutes, leaving them ninth in the table and left to reflect on how they conspired to fall to a third Premier League defeat of the season.
This match had been titled the 'high-line derby' due to the bold approach adopted by both managers with their defensive lines and it took barely 20 seconds for the risk element to be exposed by Tottenham.
Dominic Solanke sent Timo Werner away, but his cross evaded the unmarked Johnson. Chances kept on coming for Spurs with a back-pedalling Lewis Dunk able to deny Dejan Kulusevski before Maddison had a shot deflected wide by Adam Webster, who was forced off soon after through injury.
Spurs thought they had scored with 21 minutes played when the watch of referee David Coote signalled the ball had crossed the line from a Werner header. However, Pedro Porro, who provided the cross, was adjudged to be offside thanks to the Brighton high line.
That same defence did get breached two minutes later and it was a familiar scorer for Tottenham.
After Rutter was tackled near the halfway line, Maddison passed into Solanke, who smartly slipped in Johnson and he stroked into the bottom corner with his left foot to score for a sixth consecutive match.
Solanke was again involved for the second goal as he turned and played in Werner, who this time cut back for Maddison and his low effort went through the hands of Bart Verbruggen to put the visitors' 2-0 up.
Hurzeler had seen enough and introduced Estupinan at half-time, which had an instant impact.
Estupinan combined with Mitoma and his cross from the left was horribly miscued by Destiny Udogie, which allowed Minteh to drill home from seven yards in the 48th minute.
Spurs briefly threatened after with Solanke unable to get on the end of Kulusevski's centre, but one-way traffic resumed and the equaliser arrived after 58 minutes.
Mitoma cut inside and played into Rutter, who got the better of Micky van de Ven and rifled into the bottom corner for his second goal since a summer switch from Leeds.
Eight minutes later and the comeback was complete with Rutter again central to it. Rutter was able to turn away from Udogie too easily and then beat Rodrigo Bentancur to the ball to cross in for Welbeck to head in unmarked from a matter of yards.
Postecoglou responded with a flurry of substitutes and while Werner blazed over and Udogie had a low effort saved by Verbruggen, they never looked like equalising.
Additional reporting by PA Sport.
