Tottenham Hotspur will be in Premier League action on Sunday when they host Aston Villa in North London.
Spurs’ last league game was a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace, but they go into the Villa match on the back of a Carabao Cup fourth-round victory over Manchester City.
Tottenham have shown they have what it takes to beat any team on their day, and they’ll need to be at their best against a strong Villans outfit.
One Spurs player in particular will hope to make a difference and, ahead of the match, Unai Emery singled him out as a signing who has made the Lilywhites stronger.
Unai Emery singles out Dominic Solanke for praise
The player in question is Dominic Solanke, who joined Tottenham from Bournemouth for a club-record £65million in August.
Solanke enjoyed a decent run of goalscoring form several weeks ago, though he hasn’t netted since, but he offers a lot more than just goals.
His link-up play, pressing, hold up play, and movement have all been outstanding, and he contributed in the win over Man City with a superb pass to set Timo Werner on his way.
Emery, speaking to the Villa media team, praised Tottenham for how dangerous they are and said Solanke has made them even stronger in attack.
“Tottenham is playing really very well,” said the Spaniard. “They deserve more points than they have now.
“They played on Wednesday against Manchester City at home and they played with a lot of players who are going to play on Sunday.
“It is a very difficult match. The style they have is so, so strong. They have, individually, very good players.
“Of course, they signed Solanke and he is giving them a lot more ways to attack, to be stronger even than last year.”
‘He will come good’
Although Solanke hasn’t scored or assisted since the loss to Brighton on 6 October, former Spurs ace Michael Dawson is convinced it won’t be long before he’ll be back to his best – and beyond.
“His work-rate is unbelievable,” Dawson said on Sky Sports News (2/11/2024, 1:23pm). “Maybe sacrifice a little bit of that and get in the middle of those posts.
“Look, he was a big signing, expectations. He will come good. I have all the faith in Dominic Solanke, I am a big fan of him, I really really am.”
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