Les Ferdinand appalled by Tottenham star's behaviour during dramatic Brighton draw

Jack Otway
Sat, 18 Apr 2026 20:23:54 +0000

Les Ferdinand has criticised Tottenham star Xavi Simons for his enthusiastic goal celebration after the club drew 2-2 with Brighton on Saturday night.

After earlier efforts from Pedro Porro and Kaoru Mitoma, Simons netted a splendid strike with just 13 minutes left on the clock.

The Netherlands international clearly thought he'd struck the winning goal and celebrated by throwing himself into the Spurs crowd, while also whipping off his shirt.

However, with one of the last kicks of the game, Georginio Rutter levelled for Brighton to earn a point and dent Tottenham's hopes of staying in the Premier League.

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Speaking afterwards, Ferdinand expressed his dismay over how Simons chose to celebrate - especially given there was still plenty of time in order for Brighton to get an equaliser.

He told Sky Sports: "It was a great second goal by Xavi Simons, but the celebrations... I looked at Daws [Michael Dawson] and I said '78 minutes, there's still a long way to go'. You need concentration."

This isn't the first time a Tottenham player has been left with egg on their face for celebrating too much.

Back in November, when playing Manchester United, Richarlison ripped his shirt off after scoring late.

Yet the Brazil international's joy turned to horror mere moments later, with Matthijs de Ligt powering home a header.

Today's draw will be a sore one for Tottenham, who produced one of their best performances in recent weeks.

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Ultimately, however, they're still firmly in the mix for relegation - with fierce rivals West Ham a point above them.

Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi admits his players are 'suffering' but insists he was 'positive' that they'd be able to stay up and beat the drop.

"I am sorry for the result and players because they are suffering too much and we deserved to win the game against a great Brighton - a big congratulation for their style and level of players," he said.

"But we could not concede that goal from Rutter at that point of the game.

"I am positive, but I am proud of my players because they played a fantastic game full of character, spirit, what I asked of them to play in this stadium, for this club.

"We have to be stronger than this result, we have to move on and prepare the next game against Wolverhampton and to try to win the game because if you are strong like today, we can compete."

On what he told his players in the dressing room, the Italian added: "I said to be strong, to follow me again and again because I want to help them. They can change the mentality because that is the most important part.

"Now it's too easy to think negative, but we have to be focused on this performance and work to find the condition to win again."