| Updated:
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou railed against the worst defeat of his tenure after his side tossed away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Spurs looked on course for a sixth straight win when Brennan Johnson and James Maddison gave them a deserved half-time lead but Brighton came roaring back with three goals in 19 minutes from Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck.
“Frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. Worst defeat since I’ve been here,” said Postecoglou.
“Unacceptable second half, nowhere near where we should be. We kind of accepted our fate and it is hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We paid the price.
“The problem is we are travelling along too smoothly. Football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself.”
Victory lifted Brighton to sixth in the Premier League, two points off the top four, and dropped Tottenham to ninth.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, meanwhile, defended his team’s disciplinary record after their 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest ended in a mass fracas.
The Blues face a fine after getting six bookings in a game for the second time already this season, while striker Nicolas Jackson could be charged for his part in the bust-up that followed Forest’s Neco Williams pushing Marc Cucurella.
Maresca said: “It’s something probably we need to improve, but overall I like the team the way they are fighting, the way they are becoming a team in these kind of things. I don’t see any problem about that.”
Forest took a surprise lead when Chris Wood touched in a knock-down but Noni Madueke shot through a crowd to level. Both goalkeepers were called into making a series of saves as the teams pushed in vain for a winning goal.
Chelsea remain fourth but now trail Arsenal by three points, while Forest remain unbeaten away from home and lie 10th.
