Tottenham 2 Albion 1

“To dare is to do” is the Tottenham club motto emblazoned around their towering stadium.

Audere est facere. Andrea Maldera and his absent colleague Roberto De Zerbi would agree with that sentiment.

Just make sure you do it properly when you are daring.

Albion saw a point slip away at Spurs because of execution rather than intentions.

They lost in trying to win a contest which summed up exactly why Maldera believes the Premier League is the perfect environment for this Italian management team.

Maldera was in contact with De Zerbi before, midway through and at other points during this see-sawing battle in North London.

Their post-match chat would been harder work than usual, one with a numb jaw and the other with very little voice left.

But they would have found agreement over the way Albion tackled this very tough challenge.

De Zerbi was kept away by dental surgery and Maldera was hoarse by full-time.

But what the latter said to us after the game felt like something to lift spirits and restore context after the dagger blow of seeing Brennan Johnson turn home Son Heung-min’s low cross almost at the end of added time.

Maldera told reporters: “We tried to press high always and sometimes we can, sometimes it is difficult.

“But we are this. We have to accept this because our team, our style, our identity is this one.

“We know we can lose but we are proud about the players, about the match.”

Albion's bold approach is not careless. It is meticulously planned.

For example, this season De Zerbi has made it clear they are more careful in their build-up because they don't want to be caught on counter-attacks.

That was particularly notable at West Ham a few weeks ago.

But they got just a bit careless here and Tottenham had high class players who took advantage.

On reflection, one can concede that the move the hosts stitched together from deep was worthy of winning a very enjoyable game.

They dragged Lewis Dunk out of position and then struck with venom, although there will be question marks over how Pervis Estupinan protected the far post.

Albion were thinking about three points rather than one from the off.

Tottenham’s announcer told fans just before the game that this was the strongest squad they had had this season and added: “We owe Brighton one.”

But Albion were purposeful and composed.

Danny Welbeck robbed Micky van de Ven and tested Guglielmo Vicario very early on.

Rather like David De Gea in the final weeks of last season, Vicario is being criticised after plenty of games but always does well against the Seagulls.

He later parried a Kaoru Mitoma prod but was sent the wrong way by Pascal Gross’s penalty after van de Ven fouled Welbeck.

Those last two chances resulted from Spurs playing out from very deep and being picked off.

They also had their moments late in the half, Jason Steele making two good saves, and were on top after the break.

There was a hint of fortune about the deserved equaliser.

Richarlison was offside as the ball was sent into Pape Sarr’s path, which would presumably have come into play had the ball then reached the Brazilian.

Instead, Dunk diverted Sarr’s subsequent cross against the post and the Spurs man put away the rebound himself.

Son came on and whipped up the crowd.

Albion seemed to be on the ropes but responded with their best spell of the game.

Ansu Fati should have restored the lead, Buonanotte and Tariq Lamptey might have.

It felt like to dare or to draw - but the Seagulls were cut open too easily and lost the reward they deserved.

Tottenham: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie (Hojbjerg 80); Sarr (Davies 80), Bentancur (Son 62); Kulusevski (Bissouma 63), Maddison, Werner (Johnson 62), Richarlison. Subs: Forster, Skipp, Dragusin, Royal.

Goals: Sarr 61, Johnson 90+6.

Yellow card: Maddison 35, Sarr 61.

Albion: Steele; Lamptey (Baker-Boaitey 90+1), van Hecke, Dunk, Estupinan; Gilmour (Baleba 90+1), Gross, Buonanotte (Veltman 83), Lallana (Fati 57), Mitoma, Welbeck (Ferguson 83). Subs: Verbruggen, Webster, Moder, O’Mahony.

Goal: Gross pen 17.

Yellow card: Buonanotte 65, Estupinan 79, Dunk 88.

Referee: Sam Barrott.