Gareth Bale after seven years in Spain with Real Madrid returned back to Tottenham and scored his first goal, an all-important winner as Spurs secure a 2-1 victory over Brighton to move second on the Premier League table.
Introduced as a substitute in the 70th minute with the scores locked at 1-1, the 31-year-old needed just 200 seconds to make his impact felt as he headed home Sergio Reguilon’s cross to seal all three points for Jose Mourinho’s side.
Harry Kane had put Spurs ahead in the 13th minute after winning and scoring a penalty but Brighton were level soon in a controversial fashion, through Tariq Lamptey’s cool finish.
However, Gareth Bale sealed all three points with his first goal for the club in seven years and 166 days.
Jose Mourinho was full of praise for the standard of the Premier League after the match as he believes it is the best league in the world.
“It is time to give credit to these guys. Not just to Brighton, the majority of the teams. They are getting better, they are very well coached, the difference in quality of players between the teams is not huge. The game is very difficult for us, we beat a good team and it was very difficult. They had periods when they were better than us. The good thing for me is that when they equalised we had the reaction.”
On VAR: “I prefer to stay away [from VAR]. Probably the referee should go to the press conference and explain. He had time to go to the screen so only he can explain why it is a goal. He is a good ref and a good guy, only he can explain that decision. My view doesn’t matter.
“In 2004 when I came to England there were certain matches that the top teams knew was three points – not anymore. Now this is the best league in the world, not just because of the top six, for every team. The Premier League, everyone is close. If we drop two points, we can be seventh, eighth, ninth. The Premier League is beautiful.”
Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Tottenham have now won four of their six Premier League games since their opening day defeat to Everton (D2), currently embarking on their joint-longest unbeaten run in the competition under José Mourinho.
- Spurs (14 points) ended the day as high as second in the Premier League table for the first time since February 2019 under Mauricio Pochettino.
- Brighton have lost two of their four away games in the Premier League this season (W1 D1), as many as in their previous nine on the road (W2 D5).
- Only the current bottom three sides have lost more games in the Premier League this season than Brighton (4), whilst only league leaders Liverpool (15) have shipped more goals than the Seagulls (14).
Newcastle 2-1 Everton: The Toffees suffers back-to-back defeats for the first time with Ancelotti in charge
Everton’s lack of squad depth was on display as they missed the chance to go top of the Premier League after a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle.
Everton were without Lucas Digne, Richarlison, James Rodriguez and Seamus Coleman, and Newcastle capitalised efficiently as Callum Wilson scored a second-half double to seal the win.
Wilson converted his first goal from the penalty spot after he was brought down by a clumsy challenge by Andre Gomes before the former Bournemouth man wrapped up the points by finishing off a counter-attack, spearheaded by Ryan Fraser.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, however, got a goal back but it was little too late to salvage anything from the game as Carlo Ancelotti, who decided to drop Jordan Pickford in place of Robert Olsen in goal, has now suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time as Everton boss.
Other Super Sunday results
- Aston Villa 3-4 Southampton
- Newcastle United 2-1 Everton
- Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal
- Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Brighton and Hove Albion
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