Spurs 2-2 Man City: Thomas Frank explains early Cristian Romero sub as Dominic Solanke gives injury update

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank has explained why Cristian Romero was taken off at half time in Sunday's 2-2 Premier League draw with Manchester City in North London.

The Lilywhites unexpectedly fought back from 2-0 down to hold Pep Guardiola's men to an exhilarating draw, in which Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo deservedly put the Citizens in cruise control.

However, after the contest was subbed a "charity match" by Premier League winner Gary Neville, Spurs turned the tide in the second half, when a Dominic Solanke double stole a point for the home side.

Tottenham defied their growing injury crisis to deny Man City all three points - an injury crisis that saw Djed Spence and Kevin Danso both ruled out before the game with calf and toe injuries respectively.

Spurs fans then feared the worst with Romero when the Argentina international was sacrificed for Pape Sarr at half time, albeit in a change of shape that paid dividends for the Europa League holders.

Spurs 2-2 Man City: Thomas Frank explains early Cristian Romero sub

Spurs boss Frank confirmed post-match that Romero was not taken off due to injury, though, revealing that the defender was instead feeling under the weather.

"It was illness. He struggled through the [Eintracht] Frankfurt game as well but pushed through that. Struggled a bit tonight but we'll see how he is," football.london quotes the Dane as saying.

Romero would have likely recovered in time for next weekend's lunchtime kickoff with Manchester United at Old Trafford, where the World Cup champion may be reunited with his regular partner, Micky van de Ven.

The Dutchman was also missing from Sunday's matchday squad owing to a knock, but Frank expressed hope that he would be able to face the Red Devils when asked about transfers post-match.

"We are active no doubt about that. If something happens let's see. Some of them we hopefully have Cuti is minor, Micky we hope is back for Man United and Djed we hope won't be too long," the former Brentford head coach added.

Spurs 2-2 Man City: Dominic Solanke plays down late injury concern

As well as Van de Van, Danso and Spence, Spurs also had to cope without Richarlison, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Bergvall, Ben Davies, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison for the visit of the title chasers.

Tottenham hearts were in mouths once again at the end, when two-goal hero Solanke was unable to see out the game and limped off in the 90th minute to be replaced by youngster Jun'ai Byfield.

The ex-Liverpool man has already endured an incredibly disrupted season due to fitness issues, and he was making just his ninth appearance of the campaign following an ankle procedure.

However, Solanke played down the severity of his concern at full time, telling the media: "I rolled my ankle a bit, but I'll be fine."

Despite their stellar fightback, Spurs still end the weekend 14th in the Premier League table, nine points clear of the relegation zone and 11 adrift of the top four.