Tottenham vs Brighton in the Premier League from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - Saturday, 5.30pm
Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton will go to Tottenham this Saturday brimming with confidence.
The Seagulls have won five from their last six Premier League matches and are pushing for European qualification next season.
Tottenham are in deep trouble. Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor have been and gone and ex-Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi is who they have turned to save their season and prevent one of the most shocking relegations in Premier League history.
De Zerbi did not get off to the best of starts as the Italian saw his new team suffer a painful 1-0 loss at Sunderland. Spurs are left languishing in 18th with only six league games remaining - starting against his old club Brighton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Saturday.
De Zerbi guided Brighton to sixth
De Zerbi enjoyed two largely successful seasons at Brighton. He guided the team to their highest ever Premier League finish of sixth as they qualified for the Europa League for the first time in their history.
They topped a Europa League group that included Ajax, AEK Athens and Marseille, before being soundly beaten in the knock-out stages by Roma. The Italian also steered Albion to a Wembley FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United and narrowly missed out after a penalty shootout defeat.
Brighton were a good watch under De Zerbi. The passing sequences were some of the best seen in the top flight and it was certainly some of the best football ever witnessed by Brighton supporters at the Amex Stadium.
De Zerbi was passionate, popular with most of the players and adored by a large section of the fanbase.
However, it was not all roses. After that extremely painful loss to Roma, Brighton's league form tailed off alarmingly. Injuries started to bite and a youthful squad began to struggle in the Premier League. De Zerbi's final season at Albion before his move to Marseille was 2023-24 and his last match in charge was a 2-0 home loss to Manchester United.
He received a great ovation from the fans and at the time it felt like the right time to say goodbye.
The official line was one of mutual consent but tensions behind the scenes had been simmering for a while. De Zerbi simply did not have the patience for Brighton's youthful transfer policy. Afterwards Brighton chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber admitted to Sussex World that he was surprised by how "fiery" De Zerbi was during his two-years with the club.
De Zerbi is fondly remembered. He's a fine coach and has plenty of charisma to deal well with the media and the fan base. He can though be a tough manager to manage and Barber and Tony Bloom have strong ideas on how the club should operate. Brighton's recent rise proves them right and the major decisions they have made over the last decade have all paid off.
Sacking Chris Hughton was a tough moment for them - perhaps the hardest yet - but Graham Potter took over and moved Brighton to a higher level. De Zerbi then did his bit and now the youthful and more considered Hurzeler has his big chance.
"The pupils change and so do the teachers, but the fundamentals of the club remain the same," Barber previously said.
Hurzeler pushing for Europe
Hurzeler is now deep into his second season. He guided Brighton to eighth last term and narrowly missed out on Europe. After a desperately poor run throughout December and January, Brighton are now back on track.
Their win at Burnley lifts them to ninth and a return to Europe is well on the cards. Victory at Tottenham would also boost Hurzeler's chances of surpassing/matching De Zerbi's record of a sixth place finish (it is worth remembering that De Zerbi had a midfield of Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Pascal Gross that season).
Hurzeler has proved a shrewd operator. He has navigated some seriously tough moments during his time at Brighton. It almost reached crunch point after the 1-0 home loss to old rivals Palace, where the Brighton fans chanted, "You don't know what you are doing," and "You are getting sacked in the morning."
It was a tough time. The fans were divided and a vocal group on social media wanted him gone. The club, to their credit, held firm. Hurzeler was their man and once again they have been proved correct. Loyalty is a rare commodity in football and it's all the better when it is rewarded.
Results have improved and as Brighton prepare for Tottenham, Hurzeler's popularity with the fans is at an all time high. Brighton supporters rightly look back fondly at the De Zerbi era - the Italian did a pretty good job.
But so too Hurzeler, he just goes about his business in a more understated and calmer manner. Bloom and Barber quite like that.
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