Tottenham v Brighton: Premier League – live!

12 min Another extended spell of possession for Brighton, though it’s all front of the Spurs defence. It’s been a somnolent start to the game.

9 min Despite being the away side Brighton are dominating possession, which kind of suits both sides. Antonio Conte’s teams are often deadly on the counter-attack.

7 min The game hasn’t really got going yet. Don’t worry, if it stays like this I’ll start making up some goalmouth excitement.

5 min Brighton’s shape is interesting. They are basically playing with four central midfielders, with Bissouma behind a line of Mwepu, Gross and Caicedo.

5 min Caicedo wins the ball high up the field, and in a flash Gross is away on the left of the area. He tries to cut back inside Romero, who makes a good tackle.

3 min Mwepu is fine.

2 min Mwepu is on his haunches after an accidental hand in the face from Davies. I think he might have poked Mwepu in the eye.

1 min It looks like a 3-1-5-1 for Brighton, with Lamptey and Trossard at wing-back and Mac Allister as the false nine.

1 min Peep peep! Brighton, in their mint green away kit, kick off from left to right.

The players stroll out of the tunnel into the sunshine. It’s a lovely day in north London, it says here.

“Truth and certainty have taken a huge battering over the past decade (or since 1968),” says Ian Copestake, “but if any sliver of these remain then a Spurs loss just when everyone is getting all cosy with them again would be just the ticket.”

You’ve nicked that from a Sir Alex Ferguson teamtalk haven’t you.

A reminder of the teams

Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3) Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Royal, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Reguilon; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
Substitutes: Gollini, Sessegnon, Rodon, Lavinier, Sanchez, Winks, White, Bergwijn, Lucas.

Brighton (possible 4-1-4-1) Sanchez; Lamptey, Veltman, Dunk, Cucurella; Bissouma; Gross, Mwepu, Caicedo, Mac Allister; Trossard.
Substitutes: Steele, Offiah, Webster, Lallana, Ferguson, Sarmiento, March, Maupay, Welbeck.

Matt Doherty is at the game today. Alas, he’s on crutches. His absence is a blow for Spurs because he has quietly been in outstanding form. Sergio Reguilon is a decent replacement, mind.

This is the first of four Premier League games today. The others all kick off at 3pm:

• Manchester United v Norwich City
• Southampton v Arsenal
• Watford v Brentford

As things stand Spurs are three points clear of Arsenal having played a game more.

Sergio Reguilon replaces the injured Matt Doherty, the only change from the Spurs side that hammered Aston Villa last weekend.

Graham Potter makes one change from the Brighton side that won at Arsenal last weekend. Tariq Lamptey replaces Danny Welbeck, which will mean a rejig up front. Leandro Trossard could play as a false nine. They could also switch to a back four, though Potter was giving nothing away during his pre-match interview.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Spurs v Brighton from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It’s exactly a month since the return fixture, and in that time the mood at Spurs has changed considerably. They went into that match at Brighton in seventh place, having just lost in frustrating circumstances at Old Trafford. That was Spurs’ fifth defeat in eight league games and, though there were also some stirring victories in that time, it would have surprised nobody if Antonio Conte’s agent was under the strictest instructions to spend every waking hour scrutinising some small print.

Spurs won 2-0 at the Amex Stadium, the start of an immaculate little run: four games, four wins, 14 goals scored. Just as importantly, in the same period Arsenal have haemorrhaged nine points, so Spurs are now a) in fourth and b) favourites to finish fourth. Their front three look as devastating as any in the league, quite a compliment given the quality of you know who, and two of South America’s finest – Cristiano Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur – have stiffened their spine.

Spurs are favourites to win today, though the residual taste of schadenfreude should remind them that it’s not a sure thing. Brighton won at Arsenal last Saturday, ending a stinking run of form and reminding us all what an impressive, resourceful side they are. As the doyen of minute-by-minute reports would say, it’s on!

Kick off 12.30pm.