Son, Kane score as Spurs beat Brighton 2-1, keep top-four hopes alive

Kane scored the winner for Spurs in the 79th minute after Son’s opener was cancelled by a strike from Dunk four minutes after the half-hour mark.

Son Heung-Min of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the 2-1 Premier League win over Brighton & Hove Albion at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday in London. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane struck a late winner in a fiery 2-1 home victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday to boost his side’s hopes of a top-four finish.

Son Heung-min’s 100th Premier League goal, a superb curler in the 10th minute, had given Spurs the lead against the run of play but Brighton levelled through Lewis Dunk in the 34th.

Brighton was by far the better side and had two goals ruled out although the biggest talking point until Kane’s 79th-minute winner was an altercation between Tottenham caretaker manager Cristian Stellini and Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi.

Both men were red-carded in the second half following a melee which had been brewing since the Italian pair exchanged angry words before the game kicked off.

England striker Kane at least sent the Spurs fane home happy as his deflected shot from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg beat Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele.

Victory kept Tottenham in fifth place with 53 points but it has played a game more than Manchester United in fourth and Newcastle United with both having 56 after wins on Saturday.

Brighton’s hopes of gate-crashing the top-four battle took a big knock and it dropped to seventh with 46 points. 

West Ham 1-0 Fulham

A first-half own goal gave West Ham United three vital points in the battle against relegation as it beat Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage.

Having started the day among four clubs on 27 points, including third-bottom Bournemouth, the Hammers overcame Fulham’s dominance in possession to secure a win that lifts them to 13th spot on 30 points.

West Ham and manager David Moyes, under pressure since a humiliating 5-1 home defeat by Newcastle United on Wednesday, took the lead when Jarrod Bowen’s pull-back was steered into his own net by Fulham midfielder Harrison Reed in the 23rd minute.

Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest

Bertrand Traore and Ollie Watkins earned Aston Villa a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest to keep Unai Emery’s side on track for a place in Europe next season and send its opponent into the relegation zone.

Villa’s fourth league win in a row moved it up to sixth in the table, while Forest dropped one place to 18th on 27 points after its ninth game without victory.