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Tottenham Hotspur recovered from a slow start to see off Brentford 3-1 in Saturday’s London derby.

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Tottenham Hotspur recovered from a slow start to see off Brentford 3-1 in Saturday’s London derby.

Ange Postecoglou’s side fell behind after just 23 seconds as Bryan Mbeumo superbly volleyed home Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross.

However, the hosts hit back seven minutes later through Dominic Solanke’s first goal for the club after Mark Flekken parried James Maddison’s initial effort.

Brennan Johnson’s neat strike completed the turnaround inside the opening half an hour, while Maddison rounded off a swift counter to seal the victory late on.

Tottenham move above their opponents into 10th place in the Premier League with seven points, one more than Thomas Frank’s side in 12th after five rounds of matches.

How the match unfolded

Brentford, who stunned Manchester City after just 22 seconds last weekend, came flying out of the blocks once more with Mbeumo volleying them into the lead in north London.

That advantage only lasted until the eighth minute, though, as Tottenham responded well to falling behind. Maddison pounced on Ethan Pinnock’s loose pass and Flekken could only push his shot straight to Solanke, who tucked home the rebound.

Johnson then rounded off a swift counter on 28 minutes when he fired past Flekken from a tight angle to make it goals in back-to-back games in all competitions.

Flekken and Guglielmo Vicario made some good saves to keep the scoring down, but Spurs made sure of the win when Cristian Romero broke up a Brentford attack five minutes from time and found Son Heung-min, who squared for Maddison to dink home.

Spurs come from behind again

Postecoglou’s men left it late against Coventry City in their midweek EFL Cup win – Djed Spence equalising in the 88th minute and Johnson snatching victory in stoppage time.

While today’s turnaround was not quite as dramatic, it was equally as effective as they put their North London derby disappointment behind them.

The team scoring first had not won the previous four Premier League meetings between the sides, so Tottenham will not have been too concerned by Mbeumo’s early strike.

Their response was superb. Solanke was in the right place at the right time to open his Spurs account with the equaliser, while Johnson finished well across Flekken.

The hosts looked dangerous every time they went forward, and some of the exchanges were breathtaking to watch.

Some smart Flekken saves prevented the scoreline from being more comfortable for Postecoglou’s side, but they could eventually breathe easier when Maddison put the result beyond doubt.

Brentford’s fast start fizzles out

Although they left the Etihad Stadium empty handed last week, Brentford could certainly take plenty of positives from their performance against the reigning champions.

The Bees built on that momentum with another scintillating start, becoming only the second team in Premier League history – after City – to score in the opening minute of successive games.

However, for the second week running, they saw their early lead overturned, with Tottenham’s pace and power on the counter just too hot to handle. All three goals came after sloppiness in possession was ruthlessly punished.

To their credit, Brentford stuck to the task and made sure they stayed in the contest until the 85th minute, when Maddison sealed the points.

Nevertheless, their form is certainly ropey away from the Gtech Community Stadium, where they have won both their opening two fixtures this season, so they will be thankful for back-to-back home outings against West Ham and Wolves to come.

See: Spurs report | Brentford report

Referee: John Brooks. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Oli Langford. VAR: Alex Chilowicz. Assistant VAR: Darren Cann.

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