Spurs, City bang on Blues’ door
TITLE-CHASING Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Bournemouth 4-0 to move within four points of Premier League leaders Chelsea, while Manchester City climbed to third place after a 3-0 win at Southampton yesterday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side are hot on Chelsea’s heels as the title race enters the final furlong and their dominant display at White Hart Lane keeps them in with a chance of being crowned champions for the first time since 1961.
Mousa Dembele opened the scoring with a close-range strike in the 16th minute and Son Heung-Min’s cool finish doubled Tottenham’s lead three minutes later.
Harry Kane scored his 20th league goal this season with a predatory 48th minute effort. Vincent Janssen bagged a rare goal in second-half stoppage time as Tottenham chalked up seven successive league wins for the first time since 1967.
Kane is the first Spurs player to score 20 league goals in three successive seasons since Jimmy Greaves in the 1960s.
Chelsea responded last weekend after Tottenham had trimmed their lead, beating Bournemouth 3-1, but Antonio Conte’s men face a far more testing trip to Manchester United today.
“I am proud of our players after that performance. We have to wait to see what happens,” Pochettino said.
At St Mary’s, City captain Vincent Kompany was given only his fourth league start of an injury-plagued campaign and he made up for lost time in the 55th minute. The Belgian defender scored for the first time since August 2015 as his header from David Silva’s corner HISTORIC: Harry Kane evaded a weak attempted save by Fraser Forster.
Leroy Sané finished a flowing move to make it two in the 77th minute and Sergio Aguero headed home three minutes later as City moved one point above Liverpool.
Everton improved their prospects of qualifying for Europe as they rose above Arsenal and United into fifth place after a 3-1 win against Burnley.
Leicester City suffered a dispiriting warm-up for their decisive Champions League quarterfinal clash as they squandered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.
Hull City’s hopes of avoiding relegation suffered a blow as they lost 3-1 at Stoke City
Third bottom Swansea City were unable to take advantage of Hull’s slip as they lost 1-0 at Watford after Etienne Capoue netted in the 42nd minute.
Sunderland remain on the brink of relegation despite salvaging a 2-2 draw against West Ham United at the Stadium of Light. — AFP