Dominic Solanke opened his account for Tottenham to earn a much-needed 3-1 home win over Brentford.
After Ange Postecoglou’s team had narrowly avoided an early Carabao Cup exit at Coventry on Wednesday, they conceded after 22 seconds to Brentford through Bryan Mbeumo.
However, Solanke levelled in the eighth minute before Brennan Johnson made it goals in back-to-back matches after his recent social-media abuse and James Maddison wrapped up a deserved three points with a third late on.
Three goals, three points 🎯 pic.twitter.com/6qmNau0QJc
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 21, 2024
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Brentford were without Yoane Wissa due to an ankle injury, but again only needed 22 seconds to take the lead like they did at Manchester City.
Almost straight from the kick-off Keane Lewis-Potter cut inside and crossed for Mbeumo, who was given too much space by Micky van de Ven and brilliantly volleyed into the top corner.
Spurs responded strongly with a Rodrigo Bentancur shot deflected wide before Maddison had an effort blocked by Ethan Pinnock.
Pinnock’s wayward pass led to Tottenham’s equaliser. Maddison stole in ahead of Vitaly Janelt and while Mark Flekken saved his low strike, Solanke was on hand to tap home in the eighth minute.
It was Solanke’s first goal since his £65million move from Bournemouth last month and also the third game in a row he had scored against Brentford.
The Spurs attack, which had struggled to click during the opening weeks of the season, was in full flow with a Son Heung-min curler saved before Johnson drilled wide.
Destiny Udogie was the next to threaten and Son should have made it 2-1 in the 26th minute when he raced through, but Flekken got a crucial touch after the Tottenham captain tried to round the Bees goalkeeper.
Two minutes later, Postecoglou watched his team go in front with Johnson again able to silence his critics.
Son passed out to Johnson, who dribbled past Nathan Collins and brilliantly drilled into the bottom corner a week on from receiving social media abuse.
Chants for Johnson from the home crowd followed before a yellow card for Van de Ven resulted in words being exchanged between Thomas Frank and Spurs first-team coach Ryan Mason.
There was still time for Guglielmo Vicario to dally on the ball, but he blocked Mbeumo’s shot before Mikel Damsgaard fired straight at the Italian to bring an action-packed half to an end.
Further chances were created after the break with the excellent Dejan Kulusevski denied before Flekken made a superb stop to thwart Solanke from close range.
Brentford were rightly furious in the 58th minute though when Vicario appeared to handle outside his area after he tried but failed to claim a cross ahead of Damsgaard.
Kristoffer Ajer and Bees boss Frank were booked for dissent, but it galvanised the away side as Mbeumo was played in only for Vicario to make a fine one-handed save.
Frank sent on forward Kevin Schade and soon after he met Sepp van den Berg’s cross but Vicario made an even better save to claw away the header.
No final chance for Brentford would be forthcoming as Tottenham wrapped up the points with five minutes left when Cristian Romero played through to Son, who clipped into Maddison’s path and he chipped home the third.
