Sky Sports Premier League Podcast
Solanke's scorpion damages City title bid as Spurs fight back to draw
01 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What happened in the first half of the Tottenham vs. Manchester City match?
Welcome to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Another busy Super Sunday saw four games live on Sky Sports, rounded off by Tottenham against Manchester City. This is how we saw things at full time. Truly a most remarkable football match and Dominic Solanke, the acrobatic scorpion, was the man who changed it with two second half goals for a Tottenham team which at half time had seemed bereft.
Thomas Frank has seen some spirit. He has seen some uplift. He has felt a change of mood here, which was unforeseeable at the break. And for Manchester City, this feels as though it was a costly day. They were cruising. Jerky 11 minutes, Semenyo just before half-time. Tottenham just didn't appear to have a foothold of any sort.
But the second half, so improbably, Gary, the second half simply changed direction.
A bizarre, bizarre game at half-time. It was almost sad in this ground, how low you just felt like there was absolutely no way back for Spurs and it was a procession for City. The second half, you've got to give credit to Thomas Frank's men and they've played a second half that will have taken quite a lot of pressure off.
man in your shot there and Picario gives him a hug and a little bit of a smile who'd have thought that 45 minutes ago but for City and another bad one where they've demonstrated again their defensive vulnerabilities their complacency and Arsenal are the real winners so they are
Arsenal win, Villa don't, and nor, as it turns out, to Manchester City. And for the second time in London this weekend, a team that was booed off at half-time is cheered off at the end. Manchester City a little forlorn as they meet their supporters. Spurs at least with an afternoon that enables them to get their teeth into this Premier League campaign. And there is the reason why.
It finishes... Down the lane, Kelly.
Tottenham off square two. Manchester City two. Peter and Gary, thank you. And it's a result that's being celebrated right across North London. Yes, a well-rescued point for Tottenham, but Spurs fans won't want to hear it. That goal, that equalising goal, will have been celebrated just as much by Arsenal fans, for whom the gap between themselves and Manchester City is now 6-3.
points, but it was such a strange turnaround in the second half, Jamie. From a Spurs perspective, first of all, what changed for them? Yes, Dominic Solanke was on great form, but their overall team performance?
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Chapter 2: How did Tottenham manage to turn the game around in the second half?
Romero doesn't come out for the second half, he's your captain. You've got no Van de Ven, no Romero. Then you just think to yourself, And I've been in this position myself, thinking, this team is so much better than us, this could be 5-0. The players were despondent. There's no energy in the stadium. But somehow they managed within themselves to just turn it around. And it was incredible.
Javi Simmonds, that man there was fantastic. You end up with Paulina and Dragosan, who's been out for probably a year with a cruise ship that can manage you to two centre-backs. He adds energy. You know, Conor in midfield, I thought, was fantastic as well. Conor Gallagher, he gave you some. Papsar gave you energy. And then it just showed you as well how much they've missed Dominic Solanke.
And that's been really difficult for the manager because you saw his quality today. But from Tottenham's point of view, we have to congratulate them because they've been...
battered by everybody you know everybody's looked at this Tottenham side the manager he's going to get the sack he's struggling they can't turn it around they show tremendous character today and we don't say that very often about this Tottenham side you know Archie Gray was magnificent at right back so second half was just completely different now is it something to build on I genuinely have no idea but just enjoy this for what it was Tottenham fans because it's been a really difficult season for you
From Manchester City's point of view, it's a big two points dropped in terms of the title race, particularly because there was an opportunity here to put Aston Villa to bed as contenders because they lost earlier on today. What changed for them, Mike? I think at half-time you were saying, look, City haven't been at their full strength, but they haven't had to be.
But they didn't seem to have that next gear to go to in the second half.
They'd lost control in the game. Spurs come out and they up the tempo. And if you watch Manchester City, every time a team ups the tempo, they find it very difficult to deal with it. And I don't know why. You bring in Gueye, you bring in Semenyo, really good players. We talked about them before the show started. And...
I'm looking at this Man City team to be so much in control and in the second half in lack of control and not getting the ball back when they're supposed to. Every time Man City concede a counter-attack, I've got my heart in my mouth. For all the good that they do, for how pleasing they are on the eye, the control, the passes, the short passes.
They talked about Bernardo Silva and the runs and Schurke, how good it was. But the defensive side of the game is equally as important. And every time a team goes up against them and ups the tempo, they find it too difficult.
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Chapter 3: What role did Dominic Solanke play in Tottenham's comeback?
They've got 29 points after their draw. Bournemouth move up into 12th with a victory this weekend. And here's how it changes things at the top. Liverpool sixth place, Chelsea in fifth place, Manchester United now up into fourth place and a point clear of Chelsea. Aston Villa's defeat means that they are now seven points off the league leaders. Manchester City drop points.
It means they are six points off Arsenal at the top of the table.
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Welcome back to the Sky Sports Premier League Podcast. Let's get back to the studio for more reaction to today's game.
Well, I'm not sure that anybody saw that second half coming. Tottenham well in front in the second 45 minutes of that game. 15 shots for Manchester City overall in the game. Those six shots on target for Spurs is the most they've managed. This is the most dominant half of football that they've had since the opening half of the season.
There are 26 touches in the opponent with five of those, sorry, six shots coming in the second half of the game. 26 touches in the opponent's box over the 90 minutes, 101 passes in the final third.
Yes, Manchester City dominated possession, but Tottenham take a share of the points, in large part down to the performance of the scorer of both goals, Dominic Solanke, the second of them, that spectacular scorpion kick.
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Chapter 4: What were the contrasting performances of Tottenham and Manchester City?
And he's talking to Patrick Davidson.
Ah, Dom, you had your backs firmly against the wall there. How much belief, how much fight did it take to turn that round? Yeah, a lot. I think it was a game of two halves. The first half was difficult. Couldn't get near them at times. But, yeah, we've seen it a few times this season where the second half is a different story.
And I think in the second half we were great and grew with confidence and belief throughout the half and could have even gone on to win it. So, yeah, we know that we need to try to start games quicker because obviously the first half wasn't good enough. But the reaction in the second half was great. So what was said and done then at half-time to turn that? Obviously a few tactical tweaks.
It's obviously quite difficult in the game to get all the information in, but obviously half-time we have a chance to do that. But yeah, I think second half, like I said, we had to come out and show fight and belief and that's what we did. And a change of shape as well?
I mean, I presume that the manager and the rest of the team actually didn't want to lose your captain, but getting you a bit more support up there, did that help?
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Chapter 5: How did the crowd influence Tottenham's performance in the second half?
Yeah, for sure. I think, like I said, we needed to change something because it was very difficult to press in the first half. They had a lot of bodies deep and we couldn't quite get close to them, like I mentioned. But yeah, obviously we made that change in formation in the second half and it worked well.
Was there also that sense that you needed to give the crowd something and then they would come with you? Yeah, for sure. I think we know we haven't been as good as we want to be in the league. And we need the fans behind us. And I think, obviously, the first half wasn't great, like I mentioned.
But in the second half, when we got the first goal, they started getting behind us, got the second goal. And like I said, we grew with confidence and belief. And yeah, the last few minutes of the game could have gone on to win, like I mentioned. So, yeah, it was great. And when we're all together, I think we can fly. Was there just that sense in the first half that...
because of maybe the run you've had, almost like everyone had lost confidence. The team wasn't playing with so much energy. And then because of that, you don't get the atmosphere from the crowd. Yeah, like I mentioned, we know we're not good enough in the league at the moment, but we're trying to build on it.
Obviously, that's four games I'm beating now and I think two draws in the prem, but we want to start winning games for sure. We haven't got any easy games coming up, so we need to focus on that and keep building. But yeah, I think like you mentioned, when everyone's on it and we've got the crowd behind us and everyone's got that confidence and belief, we know we can beat anyone.
It's obviously a huge contribution from you. Just tell us about the first goal. Clever bit of movement to check back inside. And then is it you that gets the final touch? Even from a few replays, it's quite hard to tell. Yeah, I think we know they had a high line. So we wanted to exploit that at times. And I wanted to just play on the last defending. It was a great ball from Xavi.
And yeah, I took a touch inside and it's definitely my goal. I don't know why I'm saying that. Sorry, John. I think it has gone down as your goal, in fairness. It's just quite hard to tell. It's quite an unusual finish, I guess. Yeah, I think it was Mark coming in for the last ditch tackle. But yeah, it was a nice finish.
So talking of unusual and also brilliant finishes, talk us through the Scorpion kick. Yeah, it was a lovely goal to be fair. I think I had to improvise a bit. It was great work from Connor and the ball was behind me a bit. But yeah, I loved those finishes. I'm trying to make something out of nothing and when it goes in, it's remarkable. So I'll be watching that back a few times.
Yeah, I mean, there's one replay in particular where it looks brilliant. Did you look up at the big screen and see it? Yeah, I did. I was trying to stay focused on the game, but I had the crowd cheering every time it was on the screen, so I had a few looks. And lastly, quickly, are you fitting well? Because you hobbled off at the end. Yeah, no, I'll be good.
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Chapter 6: What impact do injuries have on Tottenham's current squad?
You see the way he bent his run there. And Nico O'Reilly, and we'll probably talk about it from a defensive point of view a little bit later on, what made it so hard, it was... Should he push up or should he go back? Nico O'Reilly in that position, if you're going to be in the back line, just go back. What's the worst that can happen? You're in front of him, you clear the ball away, you reset.
But it was his... I just want to look at it again here, because when the ball stopped there, Kels, obviously Kusinov's playing and then Nico O'Reilly's coming round in that position there. And if we can run it on slowly here...
there is no advantage now you might as well stop pause it there he's tried to catch him offside but if he's onside being played on by eight nori there then there's nothing really you can do and then you're scrambling back to get in position there is no problem i understand why they're trying to do it because they know he wants to run him behind slanky that is his strength but when you're in that position here you've got to take that gamble to go back regroup and then start again but in terms of him and the run it was absolutely brilliant excellent
Brilliant, brilliant piece of play.
And I think we may hear more from this, from Pep Guardiola. Is there a foul in here by Solanke potentially?
I think it's a really difficult one, but you just see there, he gets a bit of his right foot to it, so I don't think that is a foul. But I'm sure if you're the Manchester City manager, you are complaining.
Meeks, what do you think? Yeah, I actually think...
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Chapter 7: What does this result mean for the title race in the Premier League?
It could have been a foul here just because Gueye's got his foot there and he's kicked into him. He sort of used his foot to shield him and protect him. If someone kicks your foot, if that's anywhere on the pitch, I think you get a foul for that.
Yeah, Guardiola was not happy about it and I'm sure we'll hear from him again in his post-match interview.
I think what happened as well, Kel, second half, is the system changed because obviously Romero goes off, then you go to a four... 3-3 if you like. So that then enables you to go man for man in midfield because in the first half, Michael and I were talking, he had the freedom of the park, Rodri. He was always the spare man in there because when you play a 3-4-3, you can't get close.
Your two midfield players just never really were able to get close enough to Manchester City. Straight away, that system changes. Now, managers will always talk about tactics and we hear it a lot at the moment about how tactics can change games. And yes, we're changing detail system. But one thing that never changes in football is you have to win duels. You have to win individual battles.
Chapter 8: What tactical changes did Pep Guardiola make during the match?
You have to win second balls. What Conor Gallagher does for the second goal is everything for me. I get fed up hearing about tactics and systems and everything. This is what you have to do in football. He has no right to win this, Conor Gallagher. He's on the halfway line now. Look, he goes and wins that. He wins that challenge. Then he wins the next one. Then all of a sudden, everything changes.
You can see then that Solanke makes a great run, improvises, as he said it, beautifully. But this is what you have to do in football. They never did this in the first half. That's brilliant. You can imagine Simeone loving that when he was at Atletico with him. A brilliant piece of play. The scorpion kick is magnificent. Is it the best scorpion kick we've ever seen in a Premier League?
Well, we've got a couple more contenders, Kelly.
We will. We'll have a look at them in a second. Magnificent play.
What magnificent play. Unbelievable, because he's got a leaning back. Look, it's hard.
And there's no defender anticipating that, is there?
No, you can't read that. I mean, it could have been stopped at sauce beforehand, but the way he adjusted his body and sort of slowed up his run and then improvisation to do that, it was just magnificent.
And Donnarumma, how big is he? Six, seven?
He's got to be.
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