Tottenham striker Dominic Solanke scored an impressive brace against Aston Villa on Sunday
Tottenham Hotspur battled back from 1-0 down to record a statement 4-1 win over a well-drilled Aston Villa side on Sunday.
Once again, Ange Postecoglou saw his team go 1-0 down at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium—a goal that came from Spurs’ poor defending from a Villa set piece. Morgan Rogers scored to give the visitors the lead, silencing the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium faithful in the process.
However, a different Tottenham side came out after the interval and blitzed Unai Emery’s men. Record-signing Dominic Solanke turned out to be the hero of the afternoon, with his eye-catching brace inspiring Tottenham to three valuable points in the Premier League.
The England international was largely anonymous in the first half with Villa being the much better side. A 15-minute pep talk in the dressing room from Ange Postecoglou worked wonders as Spurs looked more aggressive, direct and energetic, with Dominic Solanke leading the press from the front. He smartly dinked past Emiliano Martinez for his first goal before scoring from close range off Richarlison’s pass.
Former England great Gary Lineker was delighted to watch Solanke get on the scoresheet for Tottenham against Villa. He praised the 27-year-old’s mental fortitude for overcoming many obstacles in his career, stating the striker looks a perfect fit in Big Ange’s system at N17.
“I like him a lot, I think he’s come on, I think he’s come on. I think he’s been a slow developer, hasn’t he, over the years,” Lineker spoke on The Rest is Football podcast.
“Struggled at Liverpool, but then scored a lot of goals in the Championship. Then he came and now at Bournemouth he’d done really well in the previous season.
“Then it was obviously a big signing for Tottenham and you wonder whether he could step, didn’t have the greatest of darts, missed one or two chances early on.
“That, the way he’s come out of that and still scoring goals, makes me think he’s mentally strong enough for that role now, but I think his touches are good, he holds it up well, his movement is really good in the box.
“We saw that obviously for both of his goals really, particularly the tap in on, but it was the right way to, he gambled on where the ball might go.
“I think he’s got a really, really good all-round game.”
Due to a lack of regular opportunities at Liverpool, he moved to Bournemouth in 2019 and rebuilt his career. Solanke worked his socks off at Bournemouth, went down to the Championship for two seasons, scored plenty of goals and helped the club return to the top flight again in 2022.
-> Tight wage structure hindered Tottenham from signing England international who Postecoglou wanted
On the back of his goalscoring exploits last term, Spurs spent a record fee to sign Solanke. And after a slow start to life in north London, Solanke is now starting to show everyone including his detractors, why Daniel Levy and Johan Lange were right to bring him to the club.
