Manchester City slipped further in the Premier League title race after surrendering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur, inspired by a superb brace from Dominic Solanke in north London.
The striker produced a moment of magic for the equaliser, scoring a stunning goal as Spurs clawed their way back against the title challengers on home soil.
After pulling one back just eight minutes into the second half, Solanke completed his fourth top-flight brace in spectacular fashion in the 70th minute, brilliantly flicking the ball home to cap an impressive comeback.
A bolt from the blue by Rayan Cherki saw the contest burst into life in the 11th minute, with the City playmaker shifting the ball onto his right foot before picking out the bottom-left corner.
Having teed up the opening goal, Erling Haaland was then sent in behind by a raking pass, but the Norwegian could only lift the ball over Guglielmo Vicario’s crossbar.
A dazzling run from Cherki ended with a fine save from Vicario, but the Spurs goalkeeper could not do anything to stop Antonie Semenyo from doubling City’s lead with a composed finish a minute before half-time.
However, despite losing captain Cristian Romero at the break, Thomas Frank’s side halved the deficit when Solanke struck despite the last-ditch efforts of Marc Guehi.
And Spurs’ second-half improvement was rewarded in remarkable fashion, with Solanke meeting Conor Gallagher’s delivery and sending a scorpion kick looping over Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons both had chances to win it for Spurs in the closing stages, but were denied by superb stops from City’s goalkeeper.
Data Debrief: Super Solanke gives City the blues
Pep Guardiola will have felt his side were cruising when Cherki and Semenyo put them in complete control, but City wilted in the second half and now sit six points behind Arsenal. Of opponents he has faced more than five times away from home in his managerial career, only against Liverpool (10% – 1/10) does City’s boss have a lower win percentage than he does away to Spurs (38% – 5/13).
This was the first time City had led by 2+ goals in a game and failed to win since April 2018 (3-2 defeat to Manchester United). Coming into Sunday’s match, the Citizens had won on each of the last 115 occasions when leading by 2+ goals at the break (all competitions).
And their capitulation came about because of Solanke, who, with his double, became just the second Spurs player to score a brace in a Premier League home game against City, after Niko Kranjcar at White Hart Lane in December 2009.
However, Manchester City will view the result as two points dropped, particularly after posting an expected goals (xG) figure of 1.99 from 15 shots, with just three on target, while Tottenham managed an xG of 0.97 from 12 attempts.
