Spurs Kane the Reds
Kane leads Tottenham goal riot over sorry Liverpool
Harry Kane scored twice for Tottenham Hotspur in a 4-1 victory over an abject Liverpool team that left the Merseyside club’s English Premier League title hopes in tatters. Kane struck early in each half, book-ending goals from Son Heung-min and Dele Alli, with Mohamed Salah netting in reply in front of a record Premier League crowd of 80,827 at Wembley that included the great Diego Maradona. Earlier, Arsenal came from a goal down to earn an emphatic 5-2 victory at Goodison Park.
LONDON: Harry Kane scored twice for Tottenham Hotspur in a 4-1 victory over an abject Liverpool team that left the Merseyside club’s English Premier League title hopes in tatters.
Kane struck early in each half, book-ending goals from Son Heungmin and Dele Alli, with Mohamed Salah netting in reply in front of a record Premier League crowd of 80,827 at Wembley that included the great Diego Maradona.
Spurs move level on points with second-place Manchester United, five points below leaders Manchester City, while Liverpool’s sorry defensive display left them a yawning 12 points off the pace in eighth place.
It was a second galling defeat against a supposed title rival for Liverpool, following their 5-0 capitulation at City in early September, and they have now won just one of their last six league games.
They were unrecognisable from the team that had crushed Maribor 7-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday, their travails summed up by a catastrophic defensive display from Dejan Lovren, who was taken off in the 31st minute.
Liverpool’s defeat – their first in 10 league games against Spurs – also saw them become only the sixth team to have conceded over 1,000 goals since the Premier League was launched in 1992.
With Liverpool out of the League Cup and their hopes of reaching the Champions League last 16 in the balance, it leaves manager Juergen Klopp facing some uncomfortable questions two years into his Anfield tenure.
His opposite number, Mauricio Pochettino, redeployed the 3-5-2 system he had used in the 1-1 draw at Real Madrid in mid-week, but with illness restricting Eric Dier and Ben Davies to the bench, Serge Aurier started at left wingback.
Kieran Trippier came into the team on the other flank and within four minutes he had an assist to his name.
The former Burnley man’s lofted pass was misjudged by Lovren and with Joel Matip slow to react, Kane stole in, hooked the ball inside the advancing Simon Mignolet and rolled it into the net.
Lovren’s nightmare continued eight minutes later as he woefully mistimed an attempt to head away a long throw from Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, allowing Kane to canter into the space behind him.
The England striker found Heungmin with a brilliant cross from the right and the Spurs number seven used the inside of his left foot to plant a first-time shot past the exposed Mignolet.
It was almost 3-0 moments later as Heung-min chested down Christian Eriksen’s through ball and slammed a shot against the Liverpool bar.
Liverpool reduced the arrears against the run of play in the 24th minute when Jordan Henderson’s pass from deep released Salah to trundle a right-foot shot past Lloris and in off the left-hand post.
But Spurs continued to find space behind Lovren – Heung-min’s toepoke blocked by Mignolet after he was cleverly freed by Alli – and in the 31st minute Klopp brought the Croatian’s torment to an end.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came on and the ensuing reshuffle meant Emre Can dropped to rightback, where he was quickly found wanting.
His untidy foul from behind on Alli gave Spurs a free-kick in firsthalf stoppage time and when Eriksen’s delivery was headed away by Matip, Alli thumped a volley into the bottom-left corner.
It was game over 11 minutes into the second half after yet more scenes of calamity in the Liverpool penalty area.
Mignolet flapped at Trippier’s free-kick and although Roberto Firmino got back to block Jan Vertonghen’s goal-bound shot, Kane reacted swiftly to crash the rebound home.
With eight goals, the 24-year-old is now the outright top scorer in the division.
A second goal eluded Liverpool, Lloris acrobatically tipping a Philippe Coutinho curler onto the post and saving with his feet from both James Milner and Salah.
The only concern for Spurs was the sight of Kane holding the back of his left leg as he gave way for Fernando Llorente late on.
Wayne Rooney recreated his famous first league goal for Everton against Arsenal but it was not enough to prevent his struggling team falling to a 5-2 defeat and into the Premier League bottom three.
Goals from Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette proved pivotal as Everton continued their worst start to a season in nine years, with this latest reverse adding to the mounting pressure on Everton manager Ronald Koeman.
German international Ozil struck with a superb header in the 53rd minute at Goodison Park, slipping between two defenders to meet a magnificent left-wing cross from teammate Alexis Sanchez and put Arsenal ahead.
Nacho Monreal had cancelled out Rooney’s opener and hopes of a home comeback were damaged when Everton were reduced to 10 men in the 69th minute after midfielder Idrissa Gueye caught Granit Xhaka and was shown a second yellow card yesterday. Lacazette killed off any hope of that recovery in the 74th minute, after neat passing between Sanchez and Ozil allowed the Frenchman to convert clinically from 15 yards.
The rout continued in the last minute of normal time as substitute Jack Wilshere produced a defence-splitting pass which found Aaron Ramsey who finished unerringly to make it 4-1.
But in a bizarre conclusion, there were two goals in stoppage time, first from Everton substitute Oumar Niasse who charged down a Petr Cech clearance to force the ball into the net.
Arsenal were still not finished and Sanchez became their fifth different scorer from the last attack as he was allowed to carry the ball across the face of the area and score with an excellent angled shot.