Gary Lineker and Jamie O’Hara react as Tottenham edge past Brighton

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Tottenham Hotspur have taken a big step towards securing Champions League football at their new stadium next season with a late 1-0 win over Brighton, to the delight of both Gary Lineker and Jamie O’Hara.

Brighton boss Chris Hughton seemingly instructed his players to hold the north Londoners out and claim a point, and they came within inches of doing just that – until Christian Eriksen caught hold of one.

The Danish magician blasted a low effort from 25 yards that flew into Mat Ryan’s bottom corner. It was despair for the heroic efforts of Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy, with Brighton now staring relegation in the face.

Spurs icon Lineker described the stadium as a “fortress” after four wins in four games and no goals conceded, while ex-Spurs midfielder O’Hara reckons that is the top four sorted for Mauricio Pochettino’s men.

TBR’s view

The stadium has finally got Spurs playing the football we saw early in Pochettino’s reign as manager of the north London club. They began with free-flowing, attacking football which was interrupted by Wembley.

Now, that confidence is beginning to come back. Though it took them a while against Brighton, they got there in the end. If that match was played at Wembley, fans would have grown frustrated and a 0-0 draw would have been recorded.

Lineker is right, Spurs are making the new ground a fortress – all in the absence of Harry Kane. It will take a special side to beat Tottenham on their own patch right now.