Joao Pedro scores brace as Brighton dominate Spurs

Brighton returned to winning ways with an emphatic 4-2 win over Tottenham at the AMEX.

Despite dominating possession in the early stages, Spurs struggled to create anything, and the hosts looked far more dangerous from minute one.

Guglielmo Vicario was the busiest man on the pitch in the first half. Within the first 10 minutes, the Italian keeper made two strong saves to deny Danny Welbeck the opener.

However, Vicario couldn't do much when, in the 11th minute, Joao Pedro danced through Spurs' defence and found an unmarked Jack Hinshelwood, who fired a ferocious strike that gave the Italian shot-stopper no chance.

Roughly 10 minutes later, Jan Paul van Hecke hit the woodwork from a corner. Simultaneously, in that sequence of events, Dejan Kulusevski pulled Welbeck's shirt in the box, which was picked up on review. 

Joao Pedro then calmly converted the penalty, with Vicario diving in the opposite direction.

The Seaguls were close to score a third before half-time when Pedro Porro's errant backward pass fell to Pedro's feet. However, the Brazilian couldn't take advantage, and his chip was palmed away by Vicario.

On the stroke of half time, Richarlison struck the outside of the post from the edge of the area, in their only real chance in the first 45 minutes.

Brighton appeared sloppier shortly after the restart, allowing Tottenham to increase the pressure. Kulusevski set up Destiny Udogie, whose two efforts were blocked by Van Hecke and Jason Steele.

Any hopes of a late comeback were dashed when in the 63rd minute, substitute Pervis Estupinan collected James Milner's short corner and unleashed a powerful shot into the top-right corner of Vicario's goal.

Spurs' evening worsened when Gio Lo Celso fouled Ferguson with 15 minutes to play and from the spot, Joao Pedro made no mistake scored his second penalty of the game.

Late in the game, the visitors found some comfort as youngster Alejp Veliz, coming off the bench, scrambled in his first goal for the club since his summer transfer.

In the final moments, Brighton eased off, allowing Tottenham to further reduce the deficit. They scored a second goal in the 86th minute when Porro's cross from the right was met by Ben Davies, who nodded it in.

Pierre Emile-Hojberg nearly made it 4-3 as his shot struck the post, but Brighton held on during the nine minutes of second-half stoppage time, narrowing the gap between the two teams to six points.