Ange Postecoglou paid tribute to “unbelievable” Tottenham forward Dominic Solanke after his classy second-half brace inspired an emphatic 4-1 victory over Aston Villa.
Villa started the day with a five-point cushion over Spurs, having also beaten the north London club to a top-four spot last season, and went ahead in the 32nd minute when Morgan Rogers fired in from a corner.
It halted the momentum Postecoglou’s side had built in midweek with a fine Carabao Cup triumph over Manchester City, but they were transformed in the second half and blew away their midlands rivals.
Captain Son Heung-min set up Brennan Johnson for his seventh goal of the season in the 49th minute before Solanke hit a quick-fire double during the final quarter of an hour after a six-match run without a goal.
James Maddison, a late replacement for substitute Richarlison, capped a great afternoon for Spurs with a stoppage-time free-kick as the hosts moved up to seventh, but the day belonged to Solanke as his recent excellent tireless displays finally brought reward in front of goal.
Postecoglou said: “I just think the enormous effort he put in on Wednesday night to help us win a game of football, not just physically but mentally, and his capacity to help the team in every way he can… To back that up today with such a massive effort again against a pretty difficult team to play against, it’s just unbelievable.
“Yeah, the goals are great and of course as a striker I am sure he loves the fact he can score a couple of goals, but even if he didn’t, I can’t speak highly enough of what he is contributing to our team at the moment.
“And long may it continue because with him playing that way, it just makes us a better team.”
It was not all good news for Tottenham, who had to bring off Cristian Romero and Richarlison, having also lost Micky van de Ven to a hamstring injury in midweek.
Romero limped off in the 61st minute with a right-foot issue and Richarlison appeared to suffer a muscle problem when he cut back for Solanke to score in the 79th minute.
“Richy obviously felt something in the action of setting the goal up in his hamstring, so we’ll see,” Postecoglou said.
“I don’t have any further information (on Romero) but he’s a pretty tough cookie and for him to come off, it must be sore.
“It’s not ideal but hopefully both are not serious.”
The impressive result was achieved despite Postecoglou taking Son off in the 56th minute, with the Tottenham captain seemingly frustrated at the decision.
However, Postecoglou insisted it was always the plan after the forward had missed six of Spurs’ previous seven matches with a hamstring problem.
“He’s had an injury, he came back and last time it was around the 60-minute mark when he got fatigued so he was never going to play more than 45 to 60 irrespective of the way the game was going,” Postecoglou said.
“The great thing was he made a pretty important contribution before that with a great ball in for our first goal.”
Villa had won four of their previous six league matches but defeat in north London made it back-to-back losses and a bad week for Unai Emery’s men after they also exited the Carabao Cup following Crystal Palace’s 2-1 win at Villa Park on Wednesday night.
“We compete and we were being consistent,” Emery said.
“Of course the first half was much better than the second half and the team were aware how we can be competitive, close to win, close to get more chances to be in top seven positions in Premier League.
“And we are accepting the result because in the second half when they score two goals and take advantage on the field, it is a team in transition, very good and we were making some mistakes.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here