Manchester City stunned as Solanke magic earns Tottenham a draw

LONDON—Manchester City blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, with Dominic Solanke’s double for the hosts after the break handing their north London rivals Arsenal a huge Premier League title boost.

Tottenham were comprehensively outplayed in the first half but everything changed after the break and Solanke earned his side a deserved point with an acrobatic moment of magic.

First-half goals by Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo had City cruising towards a win that would have cut Arsenal’s lead back to four points and a listless Tottenham left the field to boos at the interval.

But Solanke poked in from close range in the 53rd minute to revive home hopes and his second in the 70th minute was one that will be replayed over and over as he dived forward to meet Conor Gallagher’s cross and conjured a flicked finish with his heel that looped in over City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Second-placed City’s fourth draw in six league games left them on 47 points from 24 games, six points behind Arsenal who won 4-0 at Leeds United on Saturday.

Tottenham are 14th with 29 points.

Earlier this week, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki struck before halftime to secure a Champions League place in the last-16 for their side in a 2-0 victory over Galatasaray on Wednesday.

Pep Guardiola’s side claimed eighth spot in the eight-game league phase to avoid the two-legged playoffs and advance directly to the last-16 for a precious slice of breathing room in an already-packed fixture schedule.

Haaland headed an early chance wide but made up for it in the 11th minute when Jeremy Doku delivered a perfect ball to put Haaland one-on-one with Ugurcan Cakır. The Norwegian chipped the ball over the keeper for his first open-play goal in 10 games.