Tottenham put in a scintillating performance in the lunchtime opening game of the day in the Premiership with a Harry Kane massacre of West Bromwich Albion.
The 4-0 victory could and should have been more as Harry Kane nabbed a hat trick and Spurs put on a show of entertainment that had the crowd eating out of their hands.
West Brom, pretty resilient this season at the back with Tony Pulis at the helm and let’s face it this is Tony’s calling card they were just pulled apart by a slick Spurs team that really do look like they could challenge for the title this season.
With Walker and rose on the wings and Erikksen and Ali in the middle of the park and Kane up front they look like the perfect all round balanced team on their day. Whether they can sustain the consistency for the rest of the season is quite another matter.
Albion were on the backfoot in truth for most of the game and seemed to have no idea of how to play Spurs, it just didn’t look like a Tony Pulis team at all. This game was so one sided and Spurs so on top you could have waited for the next full moon and Albion wouldn’t have been able to find the net. Ali was good again, not amazing this week but solid as Eriksen had a decent game but Harry Kane’s hat-trick was sublime, divine and probably one of the best all round hat-trick’s seen in years. His first and Tottenham’s opener was a cracker shot into the left hand keeper giving the keeper no chance. McAuley put through his own net in the 28th minute and already it was game over. Spurs played at their pace and it was a procession from here in onwards. Ali put the ball in the back of the net on the half hour but was adjudged off side so didn’t count.
The Baggies were simply insipid in the first half and one might guess that Pulis gave them a rollicking at half time as they came out after the break and posted a shot on the Spurs goal within a minute. It went wide but one or two Albion players must have nosebleeds for being so high up the pitch.
Ben Foster in the Albion goal had a brilliant match and if not for him Spurs might have scored 7 or 8, a fabulous double save on 56 minutes and two minutes later another save from Kane and barely a minute late yet another stop from Eriksen this time.
Vertonghen picked up a nasty injury on his ankle it appeared in the 62nd minute and looked in a lot of stress as he was taken off. The extent is yet to be known but Spurs can ill afford to lose him at this stage.
This was men against boys stuff but somehow Albion held out when Foster again saved after good work from Eriksen put through Wanyama.
Kane eventually got through the defences to make it 3-0 with a right foot shot and then he scored his hat trick from a sensational Spurs move that featured a wonderful Dele Ali flick to Kane who buried it in the far corner of Ben Foster’s goal.
Spurs looked irresistible and Albion as useful as a blunt pencil.
Swansea City were taken apart at home by a rampant Arsenal team hoping to emulate Tottenham’s performance earlier in the day and they matched Spurs 4-0 score line.
The Swans started lively enough with chances for Kyle Naughton and Sigurdsson in the opening quarter of an hour playing at home for the first time with new boss Paul Clement pulling the strings and seeing his side have a lot of bad luck through out the match. Following Olivier Giroud’s forceful close range finish in which Giroud appeared to be injured, Swansea scored not one but two own goals. Both thanks to some great attacking work by the superb Alex Awobi who was man of the match in my book at least.
First his shot looped off the unfortunate Jack Cork to make it 2-0 and then Kyle Naughton deflected another Awobi effort into his own net.
For poor Paul Clement it doesn’t rain it pours as just before half time they were denied a penalty and Sanchez poured further misery on the Welsh club with Arsenal’s fourth goal of the game and his 14th goal of the season. Mind you he acted like a boy who’d had his football sticker album confiscated when he was substituted late in the game covering his head with a tracksuit and acting up. What a baby! Grow up mate you’re on £100,000 a week! Whether there is more to this story I’m sure we will find out.
Meanwhile for Arsenal a good confidence engager and for Swansea a real slap in the face and they were unlucky it must be said but the defending does look more than a bit rubbish to put it mildly.
Chelsea were in action in the evening kick off against Leicester and came away with a three nil victory despite Diego Costa not being in sight having thrown his toys out of the pram over a training ground incident during the week. To be honest he was not missed as Alonso made a play for his shirt with two decent goals and a cracking shot from distance that wasn’t far wide of Schmeichel’s left hand post in the Leicester goal. Chelsea dominated throughout and Claudio Ranieri thought the Foxes played well in which case someone needs to take the blindfold off him before Leicester’s next game. Pedro scored Chelsea’s other goal after good work from Pedro.
Down at the bottom Sunderland lost again at home. 3-1 this time to Stoke City. Stoke had won it by as early as the 34th minute by which time they were 3 nil up thanks to two goals from Amautovic and one from Peter Crouch having an Indian Summer in the English winter. Jermaine Defoe pulled one back for Sunderland after all who else was going to score for them?
Hull gave themselves hope with a morale boosting 3-1 home victory over Bournemouth, Burnley climbed the table with a 1-0 win over Southampton, West Ham hammered the disjointed hapless Crystal Palace and Watford and Middlesbrough ground out a 0-0 draw at Vicarage Road paying respect to former manager Graham Taylor who died this week.