Kane hat-trick buries Stoke
London, Feb. 26: England striker Harry Kane scored a clinical first-half hat-trick in 23 minutes as Tottenham Hotspur rebounded from their midweek European disappointment to overwhelm Stoke City 4-0 on Sunday.
Tottenham’s victory put them above Manchester City into second place in the Premier League, 10 points behind leaders Chelsea.
Kane put the home team ahead in the 14th minute with his 100th goal in club football, with 84 of them coming for Spurs.
He added another 18 minutes later, volleying in from a corner and completed his third treble in six weeks with a deflected shot. Dele Alli made it 4-0 before halftime from Kane’s cross.
It was a stunning individual performance by the 23-year-old Londoner, who had previously scored hattricks against West Bromwich Albion on Jan. 14 and then at Fulham in the FA Cup last Sunday.
The team’s display also justified manager Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to field an unchanged side despite Spurs having less than 72 hours’ rest after going out of the Europa League against Gent at Wembley on Thursday.
Mid-table Stoke, in contrast, derived no benefit from having had 15 days without a game and were outplayed throughout.
Spurs pressed from the start with some neat closepassing and Kane opened the scoring with an opportunistic effort as the ball ran to him off a defender. Soon after Jan Vertonghen had struck the bar with a fierce drive, Christian Eriksen spotted Kane unmarked at a corner and picked him out for a perfect low left-footed volley.
Eriksen next teed up a free kick for the striker, whose shot went in off a defender. The goal was credited to Kane, who then did brilliantly on the right flank just before halftime, setting up Alli to score.
Stoke, who were no doubt given a talking to at the interval by manager Mark Hughes, livened up in the second half but Kane was only denied his fourth goal by a fine low save from Lee Grant.
“We wanted to come out and get back to winning ways,” Kane said. “It was exactly what we need. I just tried to get my shots off and if you don’t shoot, you don’t score.” TITLE PEDIGREE KEY FOR CHELSEA Antonio Conte believes Chelsea’s experience of winning the Premier League two years ago will prove decisive as they attempt to maintain their stranglehold on the title race.
A 3-1 victory over Swansea gave Conte’s side an 11-point lead as they head into the final third of the season, with the pressure resting firmly on the chasing pack. The Premier League trophy will be heading back to Stamford Bridge if the Blues avoid major slips during the final weeks and their boss is convinced his players have shown they can hold their nerve after lifting the trophy during Mourinho’s reign.
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THE RESULTS Tottenham 4 (Kane 14, 32, 37, Alli 45) Stoke City 0 Chelsea 3 (Fabregas 19, Pedro 72, Costa 84) Swansea 1 (Llorente 45) Crystal Palace 1 (Van Aanholt 34) Middlesbrough 0 Everton 2 (Gueye 40, Lukaku 80) Sunderland 0 Hull 1 (Huddlestone 72-pen) Burnley 1 (Keane 76) Watford 1 (Deeney 3-pen) West Ham 1 (Ayew 73) West Brom 2 (Dawson 10, McAuley 22) Bournemouth 1 (King 5-pen)