Brighton 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 talking points as Seagulls edge away from the drop zone | Premier League 2020-21

#3 Tottenham Hotspur looked completely toothless without Harry Kane

Without Harry Kane, Tottenham looked out of ideas in attack

Thursday’s loss to Liverpool may well be considered a turning point in Jose Mourinho’s time as Tottenham Hotspur manager. Not only did his side completely collapse against a resurgent Reds side, but Harry Kane also picked up his seemingly annual ankle injury.

After Kane went off on Thursday, Tottenham Hotspur looked completely toothless and failed to register a meaningful attack outside of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s goal.

That was forgivable due to Kane's departure from the game at half-time. However, Sunday’s performance was somehow even worse than the one Tottenham Hotspur produced three days earlier.

Mourinho’s side looked thoroughly devoid of any kind of creativity. Forwards Son Heung Min, Gareth Bale and Steven Bergwijn looked cut off from the rest of the team. None of the passing sequences seemed to work, and Tanguy Ndombele was forced to drop far too deep to be effective.

Tottenham Hotspur fans are worried about how this side would function without Kane for a while, and it looks like we’ve got our answer. Without the England captain, not only are Spurs shorn of their main goal threat, but they’re also shorn of their main creative hub too.

Unless Tottenham Hotspur can arrest this slump, Kane will look to move to a more successful club in the summer. If that happens, it’s a pretty damning verdict on not only Mourinho, but on club chairman Daniel Levy too.

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#4 Is Gareth Bale finished as an elite-level player?

Despite his best efforts, Gareth Bale's best days look behind him

With Harry Kane shelved following his ankle injury, Sunday’s game was seen as the big opportunity for Gareth Bale to come back to the forefront for Tottenham Hotspur.

The Welshman was greeted as a returning hero when he arrived back in North London from Real Madrid in October but has since looked like a shadow of his former self.

The argument has always been that after spending so long as an unused player in Madrid, it would always take Bale time to get back to full speed. However, he’s now been at Tottenham Hotspur for four months and, outside of the odd flash, the old spark just hasn’t been there.

Sunday’s game was another example of that. The effort was there for Bale, but his pace appears to have gone. He doesn’t find himself in as dangerous positions as he once did, and he no longer has the ability to change a game at the drop of a hat.

The old adage states “never go back,” and unfortunately, it seems like Bale’s second stint at Tottenham Hotspur is destined to go down as another example of that.

If he can’t turn it around quickly, the Welshman is probably finished as an elite-level player, whether he’s at Tottenham Hotspur or Real Madrid.

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#5 How big is the Chelsea game now for Tottenham Hotspur?

Everything may be on the line for Jose Mourinho when his side face his old club Chelsea on Thursday

Tottenham Hotspur’s next game – a London derby with Chelsea – was always going to be a big one, given the history between the clubs and Chelsea’s history with Jose Mourinho. Now though, it’s suddenly gotten a whole lot bigger.

Chelsea picked up their first win under new boss Thomas Tuchel on Sunday, and while they didn’t look brilliant in beating Burnley, they certainly looked better than Tottenham Hotspur did against Brighton.

The last time these two sides faced off, they were both hugely in the ascendency and looked like title contenders. And of course, they put on a pretty damp squib of a game, eventually drawing 0-0 in a result that seemed to favour both sides at the time.

Now though, both London sides come into the match desperate for a win. Chelsea will feel that, on Sunday’s evidence, Tottenham Hotspur are there for the taking. And Spurs – theoretically at least – are like a wounded animal, backs to the wall and looking for any positives to cling to.

If Tottenham Hotspur fall to defeat, their hopes of any kind of title challenge – and any challenge for the top four – are probably going to be dead in the water. However, if Chelsea lose, then what does it say about Tuchel’s hopes for resurrecting their season?

All London derbies are big games, but none will be much more pivotal than this one.