Tottenham 3 Bournemouth 0
Tottenham Hotspur continue to do all they can to unsettle Leicester City’s title pursuit from afar.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side vaulted a tricky hurdle here with plenty to spare, their dismissal of Bournemouth trimming the deficit from the top back to five points and ensuring the squabble for the remaining two Champions League places is still being played out as a distant murmur. The sense persists that, should the leaders stumble, Spurs will pounce. Their game of catch-up is maintained.
This was an impressive victory, secured while the home side swarmed all over their opponents in the opening exchanges. Eddie Howe’s team, whose own achievements this term have rightly been heralded, were made to look timid, all their usual energy suffocated from them until the contest had in effect been surrendered.
Harry Kane personified the home side's intent, pilfering two early goals to swell his season's tally against this opposition to five and 21 overall to match his haul from last year, and even summoning a smart last-ditch tackle inside his own box to choke Josh King's glimpse of goal. His was a complete display. The same might be said of that offered by his team.
Given how comfortable Tottenham made it appear, it was worth recalling Bournemouth had arrived here unbeaten away from home since the turn of the year, with three successive wins having thrust them well clear of the condemned near the foot.
The pace they boast of their own on either flank, allied with a blend of spikiness and quality through the centre and industry throughout, should have made this an awkward fixture yet, in truth, the hosts had felt comfortable from inside the opening minute.
Back in October when these sides had met at the Vitality stadium, Matt Ritchie had eased the home side ahead in 49 seconds only for Spurs to stampede to riotous victory. It took Tottenham 44 seconds to register here, but there was rarely any hint of a riposte.
It was Kane, scorer of a hat-trick on the south coast, whose class truly told. Hugo Lloris's quick distribution to Kyle Walker near the halfway line had set the tempo, the right back allowed to progress unchallenged down the flank before conjuring a delicious centre which Bournemouth could not repel, Kane edging marginally ahead of Simon Francis to score.
There would be further reward while the visitors were still wheezing at the pace of Tottenham's early onslaught, a neat interchange of passes inside their own half culminating in Dele Alli easing a pass beyond Francis for Kane to convert first time past Artur Boruc. Both goals were made to look utterly simple. Each had actually been slickly constructed.
By the time King looped an awkward header over Lloris's bar from Max Gradel's centre – the first hint of a Bournemouth reply – Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Alli had all come close to adding to the hosts' plunder. The urgency of Spurs' full backs, Danny Rose and Walker, had pinned Howe's side deep in their own territory for long periods and, while a pair of half-time changes did inject more energy into the visitors' approach, Tottenham remained a blistering threat on the counterattack.
Walker had already drilled one attempt just wide when Alli and Kane combined yet again with Boruc only able to push the striker’s rasped shot back into the six-yard box where Eriksen tapped in the third.
They might have added more before the end, Boruc doing well to deny Eriksen at his near-post, but this ended up feeling something of a breeze.
“Leicester City, we’re coming for you,” bellowed the home support, even if the leaders boast enough breathing space not to be quaking in their boots just yet. Spurs can do more than this in their pursuit.
(Guardian service)
