Albion’s poor run continued with a sixth successive Premier League defeat on Wednesday.
The hosts matched Tottenham for long spells at a wet Amex and there was certainly no lack of effort from Graham Potter’s team but Spurs had the edge where it mattered most.
They did get a hefty slice of luck for their first goal when Dejan Kulusevski’s shot took a big deflection off Cristian Romero to leave Rob Sanchez helpless, and Albion behind at the break.
Then 11 minute into the second half Harry Kane beat the offside trap to score his 95th away goal, a new Premier League record.
Albion had 15 shots and six corners, but none were on target and it is now four successive Amex games without a goal.
Graham Potter brought in Pascal Gross and Shane Duffy from the side beaten by Liverpool and started with a 4-4-2.
Albion had a let-off in the fifth minute when Kane missed an open goal. The England captain closed down Sanchez’s attempted clearance and although he was forced wide he had an open goal to aim at but screwed his shot wide.
Eric Dier needed to have his head swathed in bandages after he was caught by Neal Maupay, who was booked, and it took a while before Albion began to threaten.
Alexis Mac Allister profited from good work by Solly March on the right, got into the box and forced Ben Davies to block his shot. Albion won a few corners and started to get on top.
But it was Tottenham who broke the deadlock in fortuitous fashion on 37 minutes when Kulusevski’s shot from 22 yards took a deflection off Romero, completely wrong-footing Sanchez as it rolled into the bottom corner.
It could have got worse for the Seagulls before the break. Shane Duffy’s header out dropped to Kulusevski and he was in on goal but Sanchez made a crucial save with his right foot. Then in stoppage time Kane hit a free kick just over the bar from 20 yards.
Albion were quickest out of the blocks in the second half. Davies had to make a hasty clearance to prevent Mac Allister from latching onto Marc Cucurella’s low ball in from the left and the Seagulls appeared to be getting up a head of steam. Albion also had a strong penalty claim turned down when the ball appeared to hit Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on the hand at a corner.
But the hosts were caught out in the 57th minute when Spurs doubled their lead. Mac Allister was robbed just outside the Tottenham box, Rodrigo Bentancur’s ball forward found Kane timing his run to perfection to beat the offside trap and steer a low shot past Sanchez, who had come out of his goal in a vain attempt to narrow the angle.
Danny Welbeck came on for Yves Bissouma and Albion kept probing, but Spurs threatened on the break with Sanchez smothering Sergio Reguilon’s close-range shot. Albion made a double change, introducing Tariq Lamptey and Jakub Moder for the last 15 minutes but Spurs were in control, and Sanchez denied Kane a second late on with a save at full stretch.
Albion: Sanchez, Veltman (Moder 77), Dunk, Duffy, Cucurella, Bissouma (Welbeck 62), Gross (Lamptey 77), Mac Alister, March, Trossard, Maupay.
Subs not used: Steele, Mwepu, Alzate, Caicedo, Leonard, Sarmiento.
Referee: Robert Jones
Attendance: 31,144