HARRY HOTSPUR
Whitewash as Kane fires title warning with a hat-trick after Pulis’ side fold without a fight
THE Tottenham bandwagon is in overdrive. They brushed West Bromwich Albion aside yesterday with consummate ease as they stormed to their seventh successive win in all competitions.
Bigger battles are on the horizon — they play Manchester City next week — but make no mistake, this Spurs team has got it all.
They’re not reliant on one player. Instead, they rely on each other; they all pull their weight. Then, of course, there’s the man they call one of their own. Harry Kane scored red a hat-trick yesterday, he could uld have had eight.
But to put this ruthless execution down to Kane alone would be unfair. This was a complete display. Faultless. Mauricio Pochettino has found the perfect blend and the balance in this team looks spot-on.
Chelsea supporters still revel vel in hammering the final nail in n the coffin of Tottenham’s title bid last season and West Brom also had a hand in Spurs’ faltering finish, holding the London club to a 1-1 draw a week before the Battle of the Bridge.
Yesterday, with the euphoria of ending Chelsea’s 13-game winning streak still lingering in the north London air, Tottenham’s task was to ensure they kept the pressure on the league leaders.
‘No slip-ups’ would have been the message from Pochettino before kick-off. The Spurs manager needn’t have worried as the players were in no mood to let Albion steal their thunder again and they produced a totally dominant display.
They should have taken a fourth-minute lead but Kane missed the target from six yards from Danny Rose’s low cross.
It took Kane just seven minutes to atone for his miss, though, finishing off Christian Eriksen’s cute throughball to give Tottenham the lead.
It was almost too easy. It was certainly too easy as far as Pulis was concerned, the Albion boss standing in his technical area shaking his head.
No wonder, his team were secondbest to everything.
Kane and Rose squandered opportunities to extend the advantage before Spurs eventually grabbed a second goal in the 22nd minute. It was officially awarded to Albion defender Gareth McAuley after Eriksen’s effort spun wickedly off his leg before nestling past the helpless Ben Foster. Yes, there was a touch of fortune about it but Spurs deserved their luck. They were walking all over the Baggies, not that Pulis’ side were putting up much of a fight. The away team had Foster to thank for not going in 3-0 down before half-time; the goalkeeper making two excellent saves from Kane as Spurs refused to take their foot off the gas. You would not have wanted to be a West Brom player at half-time if the look on Pulis’ face was anything to go by. He matched Spurs’ 3-4-3 system at the start of the second half in a bid to stifle the hosts’ rhythm and his team mustered something of a response, Matt Phillips firing narrowly wide in the 47th minute. But it was not long before Spurs reasserted their authority and they were again thwarted by Foster, who made two saves in quick succession from Victor Wanyama and Jan Vertonghen in the 56th minute. The goalkeeper was in action a gain a minute later, getting a hand to Kane’s low effort that was arrowing into the bottom corner after Dele Alli’s bamboozling turn.
Tottenham’s day took a turn for the worse in the 63rd minute when Vertonghen limped off with a serious looking ankle injury after stretching for the ball.
The Belgian looked distraught as he received treatment before being helped off, the pain etched on his face suggesting he is already fearing the worst. Not that the injury put Spurs off their stride as they scored two more before full time. First, in the 77th minute, Kane made an awkward finish look easy as he smashed Walker’s cross past Foster.
And then came the piece de resistance as Kane completed his hattrick by slotting Alli’s audacious scooped pass past Foster.
As title statements of intent go, this was pretty emphatic.