Frank aiming to instil clean sheet mentality at Tottenham

Thomas Frank is aiming to instil a clean sheet mentality within his Tottenham team after starting the campaign with much-improved defensive displays. 

Frank took over from Ange Postecoglou this summer and has overseen six competitive games in the Spurs dugout, with four of those matches ending with clean sheets. 

Their latest shutout came in the Champions League victory over Villarreal on Tuesday, with Luiz Junior's fourth-minute own-goal sealing a 1-0 win over the LaLiga giants. 

It marks a huge improvement at the back for Tottenham, who conceded the fifth-most goals in the Premier League in 2024-25 (65), while only the three relegated sides last season had a higher expected goals against (xGA) than Spurs (64.32). 

Frank's latest test sees his team travel to the AMEX Stadium to take on Brighton, and he wants his players to build on the solid foundations they have laid at the back. 

"In any competition, it's good to get three points and get a good start. I'm happy with that," Frank told reporters after their win over Villarreal. 

"I'm happy with the clean sheet. I'm happy with the defensive side of the game. I think we were extremely good and limited Villarreal to very little throughout the game.

"It was a very even game that we edged in the end. What I like is that our foundation is strong.

"Now we are four games won, three in the Premier League, one in the Champions League, and we have four (clean) sheets, which is massive."

Brighton, meanwhile, were beaten 2-1 by Bournemouth last time out, with Antoine Semenyo continuing his fine start to 2025-26 with a goal and an assist for the Cherries. 

The Seagulls have now lost two of their last three matches in the Premier League (W1), as many defeats as in their previous nine games in the top-flight (W4 D3).

Fabian Hurzeler's side were comfortably second-best at the Vitality Stadium, generating an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.62 from their six attempts at Djordje Petrovic's net. 

Brighton find themselves in 12th in the Premier League table after taking four points from their first four games, and Hurzeler is keen to see a reaction this weekend. 

"I think we don't have to lose this game. We controlled the game quite well, we had chances, the first goal was unlucky when we had 10 men on the pitch," Hurzeler said. 

"The second goal was an easy mistake. It feels disappointing but we have to show a reaction.

"We can't be happy but we have to keep on going, focus on our performances and then results will come."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Brighton – Yankuba Minteh

One positive from Brighton's defeat to Bournemouth was the performance of Minteh, who ended the match with team-high totals for shots (three), touches in the opposition box (eight), duels won (11) and successful dribbles (two). 

The Gambia international has the highest take-on success rate among players with 10+ attempted in the Premier League this season (65% - 13/20), while only Oscar Bobb (10) has recorded more take-ons in the opposition's box than Minteh's six.

Tottenham – Xavi Simons

Frank urged Spurs supporters to be patient with Simons after his underwhelming display against Villarreal in midweek, with the 22-year-old creating just one chance before being replaced by Brennan Johnson in the 77th minute. 

However, Simons marked his Premier League debut with an assist for Pape Matar Sarr's opener against West Ham United. He has now been involved in eight goals across his last 10 top-flight league appearances (four goals, four assists).

MATCH PREDICTION: BRIGHTON WIN

Brighton completed a Premier League double over Tottenham last season, the only time they have ever won back-to-back league meetings with Spurs, and they will be out to get a positive result here to spark their campaign back into life. 

The Seagulls have lost just one of their last 10 home top-flight matches (W6 D3), and are unbeaten in six at the AMEX (W3 D3) since a 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa in April.

Indeed, only Chelsea (14) and Manchester City (12) have created more big chances in the Premier League this season than Brighton (10), with the Seagulls scoring four of those opportunities, which is the eighth-best conversion rate.

Spurs have, however, won both their away league games so far this season by an aggregate score of 5-0. Not since November 2020 under Jose Mourinho have they won three consecutive Premier League matches on the road (run of four).

Only two sides have attempted more crosses in the Premier League this season than Tottenham (89), with their three goals from crosses the most of any side in 2025-26.

But Spurs lost away to Brighton in both of the last two league seasons. They have never before lost three successive visits and will be keen to avoid a three-peat this time around.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Brighton – 47.4%

Draw – 26.2%

Tottenham – 26.4%