Spurs engineer superb fightback no-one saw coming against title aspirants Man City

Lest we forget : Picture by @YTJourno

Premier League

Tottenham (0) 2 Solanke 53, 70

Manchester City (2) 2 Cherki 10, Semenyo 44

Spurs dared. And few could have expected it.

The Lilywhites have been a thorn in the side for Pep Guardiola in recent years, winning eight times - though perhaps not when there is a danger of Arsenal winning the league.

Here, they again left their mark, even if they did not inflict the full body-blow, somehow rediscovering their mojo after a dismal first half to share the spoils after trooping in to boos at 2-0 down.

City, seven points behind Arsenal, could ill afford the dropped points and will wonder how it was that they surrendered so much control. They will also wonder where that Spurs revival came from. It looked a million miles away at the interval.

A couple of seasons ago, Tottenham's famed (if inexplicable) hold over City went awol when the visitors needed a win to keep ahead of the Gunners in the title race and the hosts duly obliged.

That game had a toxic backdrop, with then-boss Ange Postecoglou beside himself with rage at a large swathe of the fanbase welcoming a defeat if it meant their bitter north London rivals would suffer.

Was it to be a case of same again? After just 10 minutes Spurs had coughed up the initiative and chance to cash in on the feelgood factor from the midweek win in Frankfurt which guarantees them a last-16 knockout place in the Champions League.

Yves Bissouma dithered on half way and had his pocket pinched. Erling Haaland spread the ball wide to Rayan Cherki and his low shot across Guglielmo Vicario found the bottom corner.

To say home fans were subdued would be something of an understatement. The mood was almost made worse soon after as Haaland lobbed onto the roof of the net rather than under the crossbar as Spurs' rearguard was again breached by a simple ball through the middle.

Cherki was close to slaloming his way to a second goal, with only an outstretched hand from Vicario denying the Frenchman after he had waltzed around Cristian Romero.

Just before the break and the sense of a total lack of jeopardy for City only increased when a poor clearance from Radu Dragusin was picked off by Rodri and his pass to Bernardo Silva was helped on to a totally unmarked Antoine Semenyo for a simple finish.

At times the lack of intensity from Spurs made it feel like a training ground exercise for the untroubled visitors.

But the hosts had one ace up the sleeve in the shape of man of the match Xavi Simons, who led the way. He was a revelation.

He set up Destiny Udogie for a rising shot that Gianluigi Donnarumma tipped over superbly, and it hinted at something better unfolding.

Then it was the turn of Dominic Solanke to grab the limelight. First he pulled one back after turning past Abdukodir Khusanov and prodding home as a flurry of legs converged on the ball,

Solanke just managed to get the better of Marc Gueh - who was initially judged to have got the final touch to divert the ball into his own net before the Spurs striker was given the credit he deserved.

The shot of adrenaline was priceless. The sound levels in the stadium lifted and hope sprang.

It was still hard to envisage Spurs getting more joy but they managed it. A lung-bursting charge down the right flank from Conor Gallagher ended with a cross that was just behind Solanke, but the striker improvised a superb backheel flick to get it to loop past Donnarumma and into the corner of the net.

The energy surge that followed was extraordinary and only City's brilliant Italian keeper denied Spurs a third. He kept out Wilson Odobert's effort and a Simons dipper from outside the box. It was that close to the perfect comeback.

There is some mitigation to be found for Spurs at the moment in the list of the injured - but it hardly excused a lame first half effort. They are still without long-term crocks Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison, of course, but the loss of Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso and Djed Spence did little for the defensive solidity that was missing.

Richarlison and Mo Kudus were also unavailable at the other end of the pitch, giving the subs bench a less familiar collection of names like Souza, Olusesi, Kyerematen and Rowswell.

But the second half showed that the energy levels and desire can still be found amongst the current personnel. It should serve as the perfect lift ahead of a testing month which continues with a trip to Man United next Saturday.

Spurs: (4-3-3) Vicario - Gray, Romero (Sarr h/t), Dragusin, Udogie - Gallagher, Joao Palhinha, Bissouma (Odobert 68) - Kolo Muani (Tel 68), Solanke (Byfield 90), Simons

City: (4-1-4-1) Donnarumma - Matheus Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O'Reilly - Rodri (Marmoush 94) - Semenyo, Cherki (Reijnders 69), Bernardo Silva (Foden 88), Ait-Nouri (Gonzalez 69) - Haaland

Attendance: 61,337