Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as Tottenham Hotspur beat West Brom 4-0 at the White Hart Lane to cut Chelsea’s lead at the top of the table to just four point.
Chelsea play league champions, Leicester City, in the last game of the day.
Kane scored the first of his three goals in the 12th minute after which West Brom defender Gareth McAuley scored an own goal in the 26th minute to give the north London club a healthy first half lead.
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Hat-trick hero @HKane leaves with the match ball at White Hart Lane! #COYS pic.twitter.com/01ib1dhHqG
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 14, 2017
Tottenham then showed more champion-stuff in the second half as they comprehensively defeated the Midlands club.
Kane scored his second after Kyle Walker dispossessed McAuley and crossed a superb ball for Kane to finish.
The English international was not done. He scored his hat-trick after a delicious ball was volleyed to him by impressive Dele Alli.
Mauricio Pochettino’s nine changes from the FA Cup win at Aston Villa returned Spurs to the line-up that beat league leaders Chelsea just under two weeks ago.
Understandable, then, that his side bristled with energy and confidence. Eriksen and Dele Alli bounced around in midfield; Kyle Walker and Danny Rose constantly stayed advanced from full-back.
The high positions Walker and Rose took up saw West Brom’s wide men Nacer Chadli and Matt Phillips pinned back, ensuring the away side could not escape in the early exchanges.
It broke the Baggies, who should have been more than two down at the break with Kane only finding the net once from seven first-half shots. The England striker was brilliantly denied on three occasions by Foster – who made eight saves in all.
Even against a side set up to frustrate them, Pochettino’s men never looked like they would be short of answers as they scored four goals for the third time in four league games.
There will be concern, however, over the injury to Vertonghen. He looked distraught after rolling his ankle in the second half and would appear a major doubt to face Manchester City next week.
“The week has been a whirlwind having a little daughter – to finish it off like this is the best way possible,” said Kane afterwards.
The 23-year-old called Tottenham’s collective display “outstanding”, and his own efforts were just that.
But Kane’s life is certainly made easier by the creative work on the flanks of Walker and Rose, and the guile and endless support running from Alli and Eriksen.
Eriksen’s impact can tend to be slightly overlooked, given the the focus on England internationals Kane and Alli, but the Dane has now created 59 chances this season – 29 more than his next most prolific team-mate.
Kane was clearly in the mood to make use of this impressive support, and might easily have scored more than three – he ended the day with 11 shots.
But there is no doubting that his ability to make space in the box offers those around him a perfect target, and he now has 62 Premier League goals – reaching 60 faster than any Spurs player has done before.
