Tottenham Hotspur produced a superb fightback to beat Aston Villa 4-1 with one player earning huge praise from Ange Postecoglou.
Tottenham Hotspur fans would have been forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu at half time against Aston Villa.
Spurs had not only fallen behind once again but Villa’s opener came from a poorly-defended set piece.
Tottenham needed to hit back after the break and found a leveller thanks to Brennan Johnson, tapping home Son Heung-min’s wicked cross from close range.
Ange Postecoglou saw his side find another gear from that point and Dominic Solanke scored twice in quick succession to put Spurs 3-1 up.
James Maddison’s inch-perfect free kick only added to the joy for Tottenham fans, who really roared Spurs on to a brilliant comeback at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Ange Postecoglou hails ‘unbelievable’ Tottenham Hotspur star
Tottenham needed a spark in the second half and Son provided, whipping in a menacing cross for Johnson to score.
Fans were left baffled as Postecoglou then substituted Spurs captain Son, leaving striker Solanke to step up as the main man in attack.
Solanke put Spurs 2-1 up with a beautiful dink over Emiliano Martinez before finishing Richarlison’s pass from close range.
Tottenham paid up to £60million to sign Solanke and this was the kind of big-game performance Spurs needed from him after drawing level.
Spurs boss Postecoglou has now told BBC Sport that he felt Solanke was simply ‘unbelievable’ given his work rate against Manchester City in midweek.
Postecoglou added that Solanke’s goals were ‘unbelievable’ too, admitting that he just can’t praise Solanke enough for what he does in this Tottenham team.
“Unbelievable effort. The work he did midweek against City. His goals are unbelievable but his general play, his work-rate, I can’t speak highly enough of him,” said Postecoglou.
Dominic Solanke still making big impact for Tottenham
Some outside of Tottenham can’t wait to tag Solanke as a ‘flop’, suggesting that he hasn’t scored enough goals since his big summer move.
Solanke did go six games without a goal before this brace against Villa, but he has still been offering so much in attack.
The 27-year-old is outstanding at pressing defenders and really helps Tottenham push higher up the pitch and keep the pressure on.
Solanke has chipped in with two assists alongside his five goals this season too, offering so much more than just goals.
Unai Emery picked out Solanke as a key man for Tottenham before Sunday’s game and the Spurs star certainly lived up to that billing.
We gave Solanke a 9/10 in our Tottenham player ratings and believe there will be plenty more goals for him to come over the course of the season.
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