Tottenham Hotspur made it three wins in a row as they got their Europa League campaign off to a great start with a 3-0 victory over Qarabag FK.
Admittedly, the scoreline flattered Spurs, who often rode their luck after playing most of Thursday night’s game with ten men.
For the third game in a row, Tottenham suffered an early setback. This time they didn’t concede, but they found themselves a man down.
Radu Dragusin made a mistake which enabled Juninho to pounce on the ball, and the Spurs defender brought the forward down for a straight red card.
Despite such a major issue early on, Tottenham went on to take the lead in the 12th minute of the game.
Brennan Johnson got his third in three games when he slotted the ball into the bottom-left corner after great work from Dominic Solanke.
Pape Matar Sarr then doubled Spurs’ lead in the 52nd minute, side-footing in at the back post after Dejan Kulusevski’s corner wasn’t cleared properly
Solanke went on to make it two in two for Spurs as he slotted home in the 68th minutes after Mateusz Kochalski parried a shot into his path.
All in all, it was a satisfactory night for Tottenham with numerous positive points, not least Solanke netting once again for his new club.
Spurs legend Glenn Hoddle spoke about the match at full time on TNT Sports and mentioned the £65million man.
Glenn Hoddle says Dominic Solanke will get better at Tottenham
Hoddle said on TNT Sports, as transcribed by BBC Sport: “Tottenham never make it easy.
“They got a clean sheet and there were a lot of chances for Qarabag, but they didn’t take them.
It is a great result, but they have got to improve from that performance.”
He then said: “Brennan Johnson has scored three in three. He came off at half-time and I presume he’s got a knock.
“Dominic Solanke with a tap-in, he followed it in first and stroked it in. It’s all about the confidence and Solanke will get better.”
Solanke silences doubters with two in two
Sadly, as is often the case when a big-money striker joins a new club, Solanke had pressure right from the off from media outlets, pundits and the like.
It’s normal for a new signing to need a few games to find his feet and get up to speed with his new club’s system.
Now, Solanke has two goals in his last two games, and is fully up and running. Now it’s just a case of keeping up the good work.
Tottenham are next up against Manchester United and Solanke will be eager to make the difference in a game against one of England’s historic top teams.
