Spurs up to second as Kane treble crushes Stoke

Published February 27, 2017
LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring during the English Premier League match against Stoke City at White Hart Lane on Sunday.—AP
LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring during the English Premier League match against Stoke City at White Hart Lane on Sunday.—AP

LONDON: England striker Harry Kane hit a clinical first-half hat-trick as Tottenham Hotspur stormed up to second in the Premier League with a 4-0 home demolition of Stoke City on Sunday.

Kane reached 100 career goals at club level with his opener as he delivered a spectacular treble within 37 minutes, before setting up Dele Alli to give Spurs a 4-0 halftime lead at White Hart Lane.

It was the perfect way for Mauricio Pochettino’s side to get their Premier League campaign back on track after its turbulent February, which saw defeat to domestic rivals Liverpool followed by a surprise Europa League exit at the hands of Belgian side Genk.

“We wanted to come out and get back to winning ways,” Kane told Sky Sports. “It was exactly what we need. I just tried to get my shots off and if you don’t shoot, you don’t score.”

Kane, 23, who also scored three against Fulham in the FA Cup a week ago, put the home team ahead in the 14th minute.

He added another 18 minutes later, volleying in from a corner and completed his third treble in six weeks with a deflected shot.

Alli made it 4-0 before halftime from Kane’s cross as Tottenham’s victory took them above Manchester City and closed the gap on runaway leaders Chelsea to 10 points.

Chelsea had surged 11 points clear at the top as Pedro inspired a 3-1 win over Swansea City on Saturday.

Antonio Conte’s leaders were made to work hard to dispatch a much-improved Swansea side despite taking a 19th-minute lead when Cesc Fabregas scored on his 300th Premier League appearance.

Fernando Llorente scored from Swansea’s first real chance on the cusp of halftime, heading in after Gylfi Sigurdsson found him with a quickly-taken free kick.

But Chelsea’s dominance was rewarded in the 72nd minute when Pedro’s routine long-range effort slipped past a weak attempted stop by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

Any prospect of a second equaliser for Swansea ended after Diego Costa volleyed in his 16th goal of the league campaign from Eden Hazard’s cutback in the 84th.

“For sure we dominated the game. We showed great character in the second half and deserved to win,” Conte said.

“Now it’s important to look at ourselves and continue with great focus and concentration. We need 29 points to be sure of winning the league.”

LEICESTER INTO BOTTOM THREE

Hours after fired coach Claudio Ranieri bid farewell to the Leicester City players, the calamitous champions slipped into the relegation zone.

LONDON: Swansea City’s Kyle Naughton (top) vies for the ball with Chelsea’s Diego Costa during their English Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.—AFP
LONDON: Swansea City’s Kyle Naughton (top) vies for the ball with Chelsea’s Diego Costa during their English Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.—AFP

It was Crystal Palace’s 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Saturday that ensured Leicester will take to the field at the King Power Stadium on Monday against Liverpool in the bottom three.

Patrick van Aanholt’s 34th-minute goal was enough to lift Palace to 17th place with 22 points, one ahead of Leicester and Hull City, who drew 1-1 at home with Burnley.

Boro also have 22 points but are sliding towards the drop zone after nine league games without a win while Bournemouth are just five points above the relegation zone after losing 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion.

Leicester are two points above last-placed Sunderland, who lost at Everton 2-0, and ahead of Hull only on goal difference. The reality of Leicester’s dire situation is stark for players who so incredibly won the league less than 10 months ago and are scrambling to convince fans they didn’t force out Ranieri.

“We are players and we can only affect [things] on the pitch; what happens above our heads at boardroom level is completely out of our control,” goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel told the BBC after Ranieri’s training-ground send-off on Saturday. “He came in and said his piece to the players, thanked us for our efforts and for last season, and said goodbye.

“It’s a shame it’s come to this. You could hear that it hurt him and it hurts the players that we haven’t performed well enough to make this carry on.”

Sunderland manager David Moyes’ dismal record of failing to take any points off former teams Everton and Manchester United continued. Idrissa Gana Gueye scored his first league goal and Romelu Lukaku equalled Duncan Ferguson’s Everton-record of 60 league goals to move Everton within six points of fourth-placed Arsenal.

“There is a gap between us and the teams above us but there are still 12 games to go,” Everton manager Ronald Koeman said. “You need to continue and get the momentum.”

In the day’s late kickoff, Andre Ayew’s second-half goal canceled out Watford captain Troy Deeney’s third-minute penalty as 10-man West Ham United drew 1-1.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017

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