Kane sets new Spurs record as Everton fall apart
It is a measure of the quality of this Tottenham Hotspur side that visiting teams can arrive at Wembley in full knowledge of where the danger lies, but leave having been utterly unable to do anything about it.
We can be certain that Everton manager Sam Allardyce will have had a plan for nullifying Harry Kane, who broke yet another goalscoring record here, and the brilliant Son Heung-min, who is in the form of his life. Yet such is the class of Tottenham’s attacking players that there was never any real hope of it succeeding.
Yes, Everton made mistakes. And yes, there were a handful of individuals who did not look up to the required standard against this level of opposition. But this was a Spurs side that bristled with speed and power, and played with the sort of confidence that one would expect after a run of seven victories in nine games.
Son, who scored the first and created the second, was almost unstoppable on the left, while Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen bestrode the space between Everton’s midfield and defence as if they had conquered it on a battlefield.
And then there was Kane, providing the pointy finish at the end of all the flowery build-up. His two goals here were his 97th and 98th in the Premier League, taking him above Teddy Sheringham as Tottenham’s leading goalscorer in the competition.
By the time Eriksen had lashed in a wonderful fourth, there was almost a sense of sympathy for a filleted Everton outfit who, for the first time since 1960, have lost their first three fixtures of a calendar year.
Having enjoyed an encouraging start to his time on Merseyside, Allardyce is now without a win in six matches, and this group of players looks a long way from winning any time soon. They have not even mustered a shot on target in three of their last five league games.
“After a wonderful, wonderful start we are back on dangerous ground,” said Allardyce, who added that he was “shocked” by his side’s lack of professionalism. Ominously for any Everton fans who might have expected to see some forward-thinking football in next weekend’s meeting with West Brom, he added: “Maybe I have a bit of a responsibility for playing too many attack-minded players. I should have perhaps gone back to being a bit more boring and a bit less adventurous.”
There was nothing boring about this Tottenham performance, which was underpinned by Mousa Dembele in midfield. The Belgian’s control of the game allowed Eriksen, Alli and Son to scythe their way through a disjointed sea of blue, and they in turn provided two of the simplest goals for Kane. No wonder Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham manager, described the performance as “amazing”.
Spurs have now won eight of their last 10 games in all competitions, and have not been defeated in 11 games at Wembley. On Kane, who has scored 20 goals in this season’s Premier League, Pochettino said: “It is unbelievable, the way he is able to work on his weak- nesses. He’s always thinking and trying to improve.”
With the home side’s attacking quadrant flicking and tricking their way around the Everton box throughout the opening exchanges, it was Son (right) who found the breakthrough with his seventh goal in his last 11 games.
There was no surprise that his opener originated down the visitors’ left, where Serge Aurier had made the most of the defensive inadequacies of Everton left-back Cuco Martina, and leftsided midfielder
Gylfi Sigurdsson. Having been left alone for much of the first half, Aurier had time to set himself in the box and fire a scuffed shot across goal which Son tapped in to become the first Tottenham player since Jermain Defoe to score in five consecutive Premier League home games. “He is more mature than last season,” said Pochettino. “Today everyone could see the belief and confidence. It’s fantastic.”
The goal would have been doubly frustrating for Everton considering that Wayne Rooney could, and perhaps should, have opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Cenk Tosun, making his first appearance for the club following his £27 million move from Besiktas, flicked a long ball into Rooney’s path, but the former England captain could only drag a shot meekly wide.
Rooney did have the ball in the net soon after, but he was quickly denied by the linesman’s flag after sneaking into an offside position before nodding past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Then came that opening goal, and not longer after the break the lead had been doubled by Kane. Once more it was Son who laid waste to the Everton rearguard, with right-back Jonjoe Kenny the victim as the South Korean spun away near the halfway line. Having dispensed with the hapless Kenny, Son then glided past Mason Holgate before his low cross was tapped in by the waiting Kane.
Son then hit the foot of the post before Kane struck Tottenham’s third, and his record-breaking second, with a messy finish from Eric Dier’s rightwing cross.
The fourth was the most attractive. Son was involved again, of course, as he picked out Alli in the penalty box. The England midfielder artfully flicked a bouncing pass to Eriksen, who crashed the ball past Jordan Pickford in the Everton goal.
Everton, as Allardyce made clear afterwards, had “capitulated”. What a difference this second-half showing was from their performance at Liverpool in the FA Cup last week, where they were only defeated by a late goal.
“I saw some of the good sides of the players against Liverpool and some of the worst sides of them in the second half today, which is massively worrying,” Allardyce said. “How can a performance become so bad? Inconsistency always leads to poor results and we have seen a very
inconsistent Everton.”