Tottenham Hotspur’s Dominic Solanke joins an elite group of English footballers with his goal in the Lilywhites’ 3-0 triumph over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur‘s Dominic Solanke joined an elite group of English footballers with his goal in the Lilywhites’ 3-0 triumph over Manchester United in the Premier League.
The £65m man – Tottenham’s record signing of all time – had begun to find his feet in North London following a tricky start, scoring in back-to-back games against Brentford in the top flight and Qarabag in the Europa League.
Solanke made it three from three at the Theatre of Dreams, as a Lucas Bergvall corner was headed into his path by Pape Sarr, and he ghosted past a static Man United defence to poke home on the stretch.
The 27-year-old’s strike came after he also netted in both of Bournemouth’s matches against Man United in the 2023-24 Premier League season, where he was coincidentally on the right end of another 3-0 Old Trafford success, one in which he broke the deadlock.
Solanke then found the back of the net in a 2-2 draw at the Vitality Stadium later that season, and he has become just the third English player to score in three successive Premier League games against Man United.
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The first Englishman to achieve that feat was ex-Spurs striker Jermain Defoe, who during his West Ham United days scored in three successive top-flight games against Man United between 2001 and 2002.
Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka followed in Defoe’s footsteps a couple of years ago, scoring in both meetings with Man United in 2022-23 and in the Gunners’ second clash with the Red Devils in the 2021-22 season.
Before Solanke prodded home Tottenham’s third goal of the day, the Lilywhites had already drawn first blood early doors through Brennan Johnson, who tapped home at the back post after a blistering run from centre-back Micky van de Ven.
Ange Postecoglou‘s side were found wanting in the final third for the remainder of the first half, but their cause was helped by Bruno Fernandes‘s controversial straight red card for a high challenge on James Maddison.
Following the Portuguese’s dismissal, Dejan Kulusevski doubled Tottenham’s advantage within two minutes of the second half starting, and Solanke then capitalised on Man United’s stagnant defence to deliver the killer blow.
Postecoglou admits one criticism of Tottenham’s display
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The Lilywhites put Man United to the sword even without the services of injured captain Son Heung-min, and Postecoglou’s one criticism of his side’s display was that they did not kill the game off earlier.
“A great first goal and it set the tone for us. We should have been out of sight in the first 15 or 20 minutes with the chances we had,” the Spurs boss told Sky Sports News.
“It has been the tale of our season a little bit but the difference today was I felt the lads weren’t dwelling too much on the missed chances and were focused on what’s next and creating more chances.
“We’ve got guys now who are in good goalscoring form in Dom and Brennan, which we didn’t have in the first two or three games so it’s helping. I can’t fault any of them. It was an outstanding performance.”
Tottenham now sit eighth in the Premier League table and are back in Europa League action away to Hungarian giants Ferencvaros on Thursday evening, before travelling to Brighton & Hove Albion in the top flight next Sunday.
Meanwhile, Man United were also hit with a triple injury blow on Sunday, while Fernandes reacted angrily to the first red card of his Man United career.
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