Tottenham bounced back from Manchester with a draw and the fastest starter of the day may come as a surprise to some.
Tottenham earned a point after a dramatic 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Saturday, with one of their summer signings making the fastest sprint of the day’s starts.
Spurs dominated much of the first half in Manchester, frustrating the home fans with Conor Gallagher and Dominic Solanke, with Solanke’s shot blocked by the keeper at the end of the first half before Solanke fired inside the six-yard box early in the second half.
However, Roberto De Zerbi’s men again paid for their drunkenness as they went behind in the 73rd minute. Matheus Cunha was allowed to find Bryan Mbeumon in the box and found space to turn in front of Jan Paul van Hecke to shoot into the net with ex-Brentford man Antonin Kinsky.
Matters got worse for the visitors five minutes later when substitute Rodrigo Bentancur lost his head and pounced on Luke Shaw after a United defender brought him down. The red card was duly developed by referee Stuart Atwell.
However, there was a delay when Spurs found a man in the 92nd minute with Solanke tackling Lisandro Martinez to take the captain to 10 men for the day when he tackled Sandro Tonali’s cross.
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! The latest Spurs news, analysis and more via our dedicated Facebook page
It was Tonali’s first assist for Tottenham and he went on to score another on the day. The 26-year-old Italian was able to hit a top speed of 34.2 km/h, a top speed that no other starting player on either side of the court has managed.
De Zerbi lost when Omar Marmus came off the bench and the Egyptian ran at 35.1km/h. Mohammed Kudus completed Tottenham’s top three as the fastest of either side’s players at 33.8km/h.
So Tonali might not look like the fastest player around, but he ran faster on the day than usual speed merchants Bryan Mbeumo and Savio, as well as Tottenham captain Micky van de Ven, who came on later in the game.
The Italy international has been steadily improving since his £100m move from Newcastle United this summer and has shown the type of form and fitness that De Zerbi expects of him in recent games.