Solanke opens account in important win over Bees

Dominic Solanke opened his goalscoring account for us as we recovered from an early setback to pick up an excellent 3-1 victory over Brentford at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Our summer signing from Bournemouth struck eight minutes into his fourth appearance in our colours to level the scores after Bryan Mbeumo had volleyed the Bees into the lead after just 24 seconds.

It was the perfect response after such a poor start but gave us the platform to push on and record the victory, with Brennan Johnson firing us in front before half-time and the impressive James Maddison securing the points with a composed finish in the 85th minute.

Ange Postecoglou made eight changes from the team that started against Coventry City in midweek with only Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur and Solanke keeping their places, while we were unchanged from our last Premier League game against Arsenal.

One of the fastest goals ever scored at the new stadium saw Brentford take the lead after just 24 seconds, Keane Lewis-Potter clipping over a cross from left which Mbeumo superbly volleyed into the top corner.

Take that out of the equation and we actually started really well, pinning Brentford back in their own half and creating a flurry of chances which eventually led to an equaliser. Ethan Pinnock’s pass out of defence was collected by Maddison, his shot was saved by Mark Flekken but Solanke showed his predatory instincts to slam home the rebound. In doing so, he became our 173rd different goalscorer in the Premier League.

Heung-Min Son then forced a save out of Flekken and Johnson’s angled drive went a whisker wide before the same player stole in on another loose defensive pass only for Sepp van den Berg to block his effort from 15 yards out. It was an excellent response to falling behind so early, although Guglielmo Vicario had to make a save from Lewis-Potter before we went ahead in the 28th minute. Maddison won the ball back and found Son who laid it out wide right to Johnson and he worked a yard of space against Nathan Collins before drilling low into the far corner.

We had a lucky escape five minutes before the interval when Micky van de Ven played the ball back to Vicario who was immediately closed down by Fabio Carvalho, the Brentford forward nicking the ball and laying it back for Mbeumo but Vicario was out quickly to block his shot.

We were ahead at the break and started strongly in the second period, lovely link-up play between Destiny Udogie and Maddison setting up Dejan Kulusevski whose shot was saved by Flekken, who then denied Solanke from close range shortly after. Both sides had great chances just after the hour mark, Mbeumo through on goal although pushed a little wide and Vicario made an excellent one-handed save to deny his left-footed effort, while we went up the other end with Son sliding in Johnson but his shot just evaded the far post.

Vicario was called into action again as Brentford stepped up the tempo, tipping away Kevin Schade’s header at full-stretch and we had to be alert at times as the visitors looked much more threatening.

But the big third goal came five minutes from time to take the sting out of the Bees and it was a lovely one too, Cristian Romero with a wonderful through ball to release Son, who popped it on to Maddison and the midfielder showed great composure to lift the ball over Flekken and release any tension that was building inside the stadium.

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Solanke 8, Johnson 28, Maddison 85; Brentford – Mbeumo 1.

Yellow cards: Spurs – van de Ven, Bissouma, Maddison; Brentford – Ajer.

Referee: John Brooks.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Sunny intervals, gentle breeze, 23 degrees.

Attendance: 61,246.