Dominic Solanke has scored twice as Tottenham roared from behind to thrash Aston Villa 4-1 and hand Ange Postecoglou one of his best wins in the Premier League.
It was a special performance from Spurs, one of the best of Australian Postecoglou’s reign, before Chelsea later on Sunday snatched a brilliant late equaliser to grab a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford at the start of what Manchester United hope will be a bright new era.
Solanke grabbed his brace in the space of four second-half minutes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Villa had led at the break.
The big summer signing for Spurs showed his worth, scoring in the 75th and 79th minute as they produced a stunning second-half performance to follow up their victory against Manchester City in the League Cup on Wednesday.
Morgan Rogers had given Champions League-chasing Villa the lead in the 32nd minute, but Brennan Johnson levelled four minutes after the break.
Solanke’s double put Spurs 3-1 ahead and James Maddison curled a free kick into the top corner in the sixth minute of added time.
Tottenham are up to seventh in the standings, while fifth-placed Villa missed out on the chance to move into the top three.
Postecoglou could not have been happier with Solanke’s huge contribution.
“He put in an enormous effort on Wednesday night to help us win, not just physically but mentally, and to back that up today with such a massive effort again against a pretty difficult team to play against, it’s just unbelievable,” said the Aussie, who handed his Villa counterpart a defeat on Unai Emery’s 53rd birthday.
Later, Moises Caicedo’s cracker denied Ruud van Nistelrooy a second win as interim Manchester United boss as incoming head coach Ruben Amorim watched the hard-fought 1-1 draw with Chelsea from afar.
A packed Old Trafford witnessed the pick of this weekend’s Premier League fixtures at the end of a whirlwind week that featured Erik ten Hag’s sacking and the Sporting Lisbon boss Amorim being named his successor.
The club’s former Dutch star striker Van Nistelrooy, who will stay in charge until Amorim joins a week on Monday, raced down the touchline in celebration after Bruno Fernandes scored from the spot, only for Caicedo’s volley to seal Chelsea a 1-1 draw.
No fixture has finished level more in Premier League history than this and the result leaves United on 12 points – their lowest tally after 10 fixtures since 1986-87 – and 13th in the standings, leaving Amorim a tough job.
There were some positives for the Portuguese to take from a game in which Noni Madueke and Marcus Rashford both hit the woodwork in a first half featuring penalty claims from both sides.
The hosts were awarded a spot-kick after the break and Fernandes coolly converted, with co-owner Jim Ratcliffe celebrating in the directors’ box and Van Nistelrooy at pitchside.
But the interim boss was unable to follow up Wednesday’s 5-2 League Cup win against Leicester with another victory as Caicedo’s fabulous volley secured Enzo Maresca’s men a share of the spoils.
Source: AAP