Tottenham piled pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea as they closed the gap at the top to just four points with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Watford.
Watford put up a stubborn resistance in the early stages at White Hart Lane, but Spurs soon found their rhythm and ran riot with four exceptional goals.
After a closely-contested opening 30 minutes, the deadlock was broken by a moment of magic from Dele Alli, who opening the scoring with a stunning long-range strike, with Eric Dier soon making it 2-0 with a fierce drive from just inside the area.
Heung-Min Son handed Spurs a 3-0 half-time lead with a fine finish from outside the box just before the break, and the South Korean forward found the net again shortly into the second-half with cool finish from Kieran Trippier’s cross.
It was another day to forget for Vincent Janssen, who again failed to score and was replaced by the fit-again Harry Kane after 60 minutes.
Kane missed a few chances towards the end, while Son also missed a sitter for his hat-trick, but overall England striker’s late introduction will be a further boot to Spurs as they continue to make this title chase interesting with seven games to play.
It was clear from the off Watford were up for the clash. The hornets marshalled the Tottenham attack well, camping men behind the ball before breaking forward as one in quick counter-attacks.
But without captain Troy Deeney, who was reportedly annoyed by being put on the bench by manager Walter Mazzarri, their attacks lacked that clinical finishing touch.
Tottenham were experiencing similar problems without Harry Kane, also on the bench after a spell out with an ankle injury, with Janssen unable to hit a barn door, despite his lack of effort on his own up front.
The Dutchman was lively and involved but he wasted a great chance to open the scoring after just 20 minutes. Trippier’s right-wing cross somehow found its way through two Watford players, and Janssen, no expecting it to come all the way through to him, just couldn’t react quick enough as the ball flicked up off his knee up onto the crossbar, with Watford reacting quickly to clear.
Spurs have coped well without main hitman Kane, winning all three games he missed through injury as other players stepped up to fill in for goals.
One of those men was Alli, and the midfielder continued his scoring steak with his fifth goal in six league games on 33 minutes – beating ex-Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Homes with a wonderful curling shot from 25 yards which sailed into the top corner.
That goal broke the dam and the goals started to flow, with Dier doubling Spurs’ lead on 39 minutes with a thumping hit after Watford were slow to clear a deflected effort from Son.
Watford had stepped off the gas by this point, and Tottenham took full advantage again just before the break as Son made it three with a finely struck low shot, which he tucked into the corner beyond Gomes after being given far too much room on the edge of the box.
Barely ten minutes had elapsed of the second-half before Son found the net again, this time slotting in at the back post from an on-the-sixpence cross from Trippier on the right wing.
Janssen made way for fit-again Kane on the hour-mark, and the England man took little time to make his goal threat known, having an angled shot cleared away after rounding Gomes and then just missing a diving header from another fine cross from man-of-the-match Trippier.
Deeney eventually came off the bench with 20 minutes left to play, but Spurs continued to dominate in the final stages – with Watford landing just two shots on target – and easily saw out the thumping win.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
