Tottenham did fierce rival Arsenal a huge favor in the Premier League title race on Sunday.
Dominik Solanke scored a second-half double — including an outrageous scorpion kick — as Spurs came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw with second-place Manchester City, leaving Arsenal with a six-point lead with 14 games left.
It was almost the perfect day for the leaders, with Aston Villa — the other title contender — losing 1-0 at home to 10-man Brentford.
Villa stayed seven points adrift of Arsenal and was in danger of being reeled in by fourth-place Manchester United, which scored a stoppage-time winner through Benjamin Sesko to beat Fulham 3-2 for a third straight league win under new manager Michael Carrick.
Having already overseen victories over City and Arsenal in his short tenure, Carrick appears to have the magic touch at revitalized United.
The same cannot be said of Pep Guardiola at the moment.
This was a huge wasted opportunity for Guardiola's City, which was up against a heavily depleted Tottenham team and was cruising 2-0 ahead at halftime thanks to goals by Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo. At times, it was almost too easy for City in front of an apathetic home crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
City then collapsed as a revitalized Tottenham fought back. Solanke bundled in Spurs’ first goal — appearing to kick the back of Marc Guehi's leg, resulting in the ball dribbling over the line — and then grabbed the equalizer with a deft, flying back-flick that looped over City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and into the corner.
“The first half was difficult — we could not get near them at times,” Solanke said. “The second half was a different story. In the second half, we were great and grew with confidence and belief.”
In the last five games, City has looked vulnerable in losing twice — to United and tiny Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League — and now spluttering against an injury-hit Tottenham.
Arsenal, a 4-0 winner at Leeds on Saturday, might not have a better chance to end its league title drought stretching back to 2004.
Villa played for more than half the match with an extra man after Brentford winger Kevin Schade’s straight red card for kicking out at Matty Cash in the 42nd minute after they had challenged for the ball.
In the first minute of first-half stoppage time, Dango Ouattara escaped down the right and scored at the second attempt for what proved to be only goal as Brentford weathered a second-half onslaught.
United squandered a two-goal lead earned by goals from Casemiro and Matheus Cunha, with Raul Jimenez — via a penalty — and Kevin scoring to bring Fulham briefly level at Old Trafford.
There was still time for Bruno Fernandes to send over a cross that was controlled by Sesko before he swiveled to curl home a finish in front of the Stretford End.
The match took place after a protest by around 500-600 United fans unhappy at the ownership of the 20-time champions, but the team is finally in a decent league position — fourth place — in its bid to return to the Champions League.
United is five points behind Villa with 14 rounds remaining.
Also Sunday, Crystal Palace — without star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta ahead of his possible move to AC Milan — drew 1-1 at 10-man Nottingham Forest, which had Neco Williams sent off in the 45th minute for a handball on the line.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
