Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou hailed Dominic Solanke after his five-minute double earned a 4-1 comeback win over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.
Spurs trailed at half-time after Morgan Rodgers capitalised on their set-piece vulnerability to poke home but roared back in the second period, inspired by Solanke.
Son Heung-min crossed for Brennan Johnson to equalise before the £65m summer signing dinked his first and then tapped in a second from Richarlison’s cross moments later.
James Maddison’s late free kick added gloss and lifted Tottenham to seventh, capping a fine five days in which they also knocked Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup.
“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,” Postecoglou said of Solanke.
“Long may it continue because him playing that way makes us a better team. 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 with such a massive effort again against a pretty difficult team, it’s just unbelievable.”
Victory was Spurs’ seventh from eight home games this season and lifted them to seventh in the table, two points off the top four.
Villa missed the chance to go third and instead slipped to sixth, behind Chelsea and Arsenal on goal difference, just days after their Carabao Cup exit to Crystal Palace.
“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.”
