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Solanke urges unity at Tottenham after comeback draw

21h49 CET

01/02/2026

Dominic Solanke believes that anything is possible when Tottenham come together as one after they battled back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Manchester City. 

Spurs found themselves two goals down heading into half-time after Rayan Cherki's 11th-minute opener was followed up by Antoine Semenyo's cool finish just before the break. 

However, Thomas Frank's side improved after the interval and reduced the deficit when Solanke scored eight minutes after the restart. 

And the comeback was completed in the 70th minute when Conor Gallagher's cross was sensationally flicked home by Solanke's scorpion kick to seal a share of the spoils. 

And though Spurs' winless run in the Premier League extended to six matches, Solanke believes that their display against City is a solid foundation to build on. 

"It was a game of two halves. The first half was difficult. We could not get near them at times. The second half was a different story," Solanke said.

"In the second half we were great and grew with confidence and belief and could have gone on to win it. We know we need to start games quicker.

"A few tactical tweaks. At half-time we had a chance to do that. In the second half we had to show fight and belief and I thought we did.

"We needed to change something because it was very difficult to press. We made that change and it worked very well.

"We know we haven't been as good as we want to be in the league, and we need the fans behind us. When we are all together I think we can fly.

"We are trying to build on it. That is four games unbeaten now, and we want to start winning games for sure. We need to focus on that and keep building.

"When everyone is on it, and we have the crowd and everyone has that confidence and belief, we know we can beat anyone."

Solanke became just the second Spurs player to score a brace in a Premier League home game against City, after Niko Kranjcar in December 2009.

The result also saw City fail to win a game in which they had led by 2+ goals at half-time in all competitions since April 2018, when they lost 3-2 to Manchester United. 

Spurs went into the game having to deal with a raft of injuries, and those problems were made worse when captain Cristian Romero was taken off at half-time. 

Heading into the interval, the home fans inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium booed their team off the pitch as they failed to create anything in the final third. 

However, their attack began to fire after the break, with Frank's team improving their expected goals (xG) from 0.17 to 0.81 in the second half, while also posting more shots (three to nine) and more shots on target (one to five).

Frank has now taken four points from games versus City in the Premier League this season (W1 D1), the most by a Spurs manager in a single campaign since Mauricio Pochettino in 2016-17 (also W1 D1).

And the Dane echoed Solanke's sentiments in his post-match assessment, saying: "I think we can create something magic together for the players and the fans when we are united, especially in the second half but also in the Dortmund game. 

"That atmosphere, intensity, that’s what pushed the players and they really needed it. I prefer it to go more smoothly. I think that is fair to say, but this is football.

"In this spell, I think we have done more good things than bad, but not enough performances have turned into results. 

"But now I am happy we have four decent performances and are unbeaten.

"It was a big point with that second-half performance. The players' mentality has been good throughout."

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