Stoke vs Tottenham match report: Mauricio Pochettino's side produce performance of champions to close gap
Stoke City 0 Tottenham Hotspur 4
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Your support makes all the difference.It was a performance of champions, full of class, confidence and the kind of swagger which deserves title glory and Tottenham will now believe they can overhaul Leicester City in the final month of the season after this brutal dismantling of Stoke City.
Two goals apiece for Harry Kane and Deli Alli, the English heartbeat of Mauricio Pochettino’s effervescent young team, completed a rout of Mark Hughes’s team in a performance which will have been noted by Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri.
Ranieri’s team go into the final four games of the campaign with a five point lead, but with Jamie Vardy suspended for two of those and Spurs showing the readiness to push them all the way and capitalise on any slips, this title race still has yards to be run by both teams.
One of the hallmarks of this title race has been the ability of both Spurs and Leicester to withstand the usual tensions and jitters of the run-in.
Neither team has appeared constrained by the pressure of expectancy and necessity to win, win and win again, and Pochettino summed up his own air of calm by revealing he spent Sunday afternoon, at home with chairman Daniel Levy, drinking red wine while watching Leicester snatch a stoppage time equaliser against West Ham to move eight points clear at the top of the table.
Perhaps the Argentine’s relaxed mood was a result of his team’s form. Spurs arrived at the Britannia Stadium unbeaten since losing 1-0 at West Ham on March 2, with that defeat the only one suffered in 15 away league games.
Leicester have undoubtedly set a punishing pace, but Tottenham began against Stoke as though they not only believed they could reel in Ranieri’s team, but also expected to do so.
The game was less than ten minutes old when Kane struck to give Spurs the lead, but they could have scored earlier but for Shay Given, making his league debut for Stoke just two days before his 40th birthday.
Erik Lamela’s pass had found Kane inside the Stoke penalty area, but after dragging the ball out of his feet, the England forward saw his shot blocked by Given’s legs.
Given was helpless two minutes later, though, when Kane struck with another stunning goal to add to his burgeoning collection.
Lamela once again provided the assist, but Kane had more to do on this occasion, receiving the ball at the edge of the penalty area with Philipp Wollscheid blocking the route to goal.
Kane used the defender as a screen, however, and curled the ball around him and into the far corner to register his 23rd league goal of the campaign – one more than Leicester rival Jamie Vardy.
If there were any Tottenham nerves – and there did not appear to be – they would have been banished by the goal and Pochettino’s players continued to press forward, dominating the game in the process.
Regardless of how the title race ends, Spurs are undoubtedly more pleasing on the eye than Leicester, whose resilience and use of Vardy and Riyad Mahrez has carried them to the brink of the title.
Spurs play with verve and flair, they take risks with their attacking play, with both full-backs racing forward at every opportunity and the approach leads to the production line of chances which Stoke were forced to repel.
Dele Alli saw a 20-yard shot deflected over the crossbar, Mousa Dembele went close from 30 yards whole Christian Eriksen missed a golden chance to make it 2-0 on 42 minutes after being set free by Alli’s clever flick.
With only Given to beat, the Dane struck the crossbar from 12 yards when he should have put the game to bed and ensured the gap at the top was cut to five points.
Stoke, in contrast, struggled to test Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal, with Marko Arnautovic’s left foot strike midway through the first-half the only one to force the Frenchman into a save before the interval.
But if Stoke were anonymous in the first-half, they were invisible after the break as Spurs raced clear with three majestic goals.
The first, from Alli, was a classy dink over Given on 67 minutes after the teenager had been put through on goal by Eriksen’s pass.
Alli should have scored another three minutes when he rounded Given, but the England midfielder somehow struck the post when the goal was gaping.
No matter, because Kane was there to make amends sixty seconds later, side-footing into the net from close range from Lamela’s square pass.
At 3-0, it was already emphatic, but Alli embellished Tottenham’s lead by volleying Eriksen’s cross past Given from 12 yards on 81 minutes.
The Spurs fans greeted the victory with chants of ‘Leicester City, we’re coming for you.’
Ranieri and his players will have seen enough on the pitch to know that without being reminded by the visiting supporters.
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