Tottenham Hotspur kept their top-four hopes alive with a hard-fought victory over Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon, with a late Harry Kane strike proving the difference as the hosts edged to a narrow 2-1 win in north London.
Despite ending the day with all three points, it is fair to say that the Lilywhites more than rode their luck at times, with the visitors having controversially seen a Kaoru Mitoma effort disallowed for handball, while Roberto De Zerbi's men were also denied a possible penalty following a foul on the Japanese winger by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Amid a frantic and frenetic encounter in N17 – which saw both De Zerbi and Spurs' interim boss Cristian Stellini sent off on the touchline – the home side will no doubt be feeling a sense of relief to have come away as victors, ensuring that the gap to Manchester United in fourth is just three points.
The manner of the performance will still be of concern to Stellini and co, however, with the "awful" display of veteran defender Ivan Perisic having been a particular issue, as per writer Andrew Gaffney.
How did Perisic perform against Brighton?
The former Inter Milan man was described as a "complete liability" last month by Gaffney due to his inability to perform, with this afternoon's display having been more of the same, in truth, as the 34-year-old was simply "useless", according to writer Carter Gaddis.
While the wing-back did look 'dangerous' from the flanks – as per the Evening Standard's Dan Kilpatrick – after registering three key passes, the Croatian international was rather erratic on the ball, having lost possession on 14 occasions from just 47 touches.
Not only did Perisic look 'off the pace' at times, according to Kilpatrick, but he was also unable to provide quality service from his wide berth after completing just one of his ten crosses, albeit while laying on the assist in the build-up to Heung-min Son's opener.
As 90min's Jude Summerfield noted, the £180k-per-week dud 'lacked final product', notably 'ballooning the ball into the stands from good positions' as an indication of his frustrating knack for squandering presentable openings for his side.
While the experienced figure did end the day with an eye-catching match rating of 7.7, as per Sofascore, that was seemingly not an accurate reflection of his overall performance, as he let the side down once again.
The one-time Bayern Munich man may now boast a respectable tally of six assists in the top flight so far this term, although that should not overshadow his overall woes, with it looking like he could be "remembered as a massive waste of money", as per The Athletic's James Maw.