Tottenham Hotspur returned to winning ways following their near-two week football hiatus as they comfortably eased into the FA Cup fifth round with a 3-1 home win over Brighton.
Antonio Conte’s men took an early lead inside 15 minutes as star striker Harry Kane opened the scoring with a sublime, right-footed curling effort from just outside the area.
Soon after, Spurs wing-back Emerson Royal doubled the Lilywhites’ advantage with his deflected effort looping over Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez – putting the home side in cruise control.
While Seagulls star Yves Bissouma managed to pull one back just past the hour mark after a brilliant solo run inside Tottenham’s half, Kane restored his side’s two-goal cushion almost immediately afterwards.
The England international pounced on a ricochet inside Brighton’s penalty area following Son Heung-min’s own dazzling dribble as Spurs and Conte secured an impressive victory.
However, despite there being many top performers on the night, we’ve rounded up three Tottenham players who endured evenings to forget according to statistical experts SofaScore.
Of the players to feature over at least 45 minutes, there were a trio of Spurs men in particular who didn’t enjoy their best outing – especially considering they collectively lost 73% of their duels, both aerially and on the floor, whilst also giving away possession 34 times.
Harry Winks – 6.7/10
Replaced by new signing Rodrigo Bentancur with just over 10 minutes to go, Spurs’ academy product was arguably ineffective at times both going forward and defensively.
Indeed, Winks conceded possession on eight occasions whilst also winning just 2/5 of his ground duels without competing for a single ball in the air against Brighton on Saturday night (SofaScore).
He was also dribbled past twice in midfield and made no key passes in the final third, highlighting a potentially disappointing evening for the 26-year-old.
Lucas Moura – 6.5/10
Lucas Moura struggled to keep hold of the ball on many occasions, giving it away 17 times as the Brazilian also couldn’t make much of an impact in either half.
Alasdair Gold highlighted his ‘sloppy’ first period as Lucas continued that form into the next 45, resulting in Conte hooking the 29-year-old with over 20 minutes remaining.
Of his 10 duels in total, both aerially and on the floor, Lucas lost six of them – with it being safe to say this wasn’t his most memorable outing.
Sergio Reguilon – 6.3/10
Out of Tottenham’s starters, Sergio Reguilon ranks in as Conte’s worst performer of the evening with a 6.3/10 overall rating.
The Spaniard lost possession nine times, found none of his crosses from out wide and won zero of his seven duels against Brighton in total (SofaScore).
Members of the media also pinpointed his lack of efficiency in the final third despite getting into good positions (football.london), and the fact he also dribbled past on two occasions highlights Reguilon has enjoyed better outings.
In other news: Tottenham have offered ‘top’ player a new deal after he blew Nuno away, find out more here.