Harry Kane scored yet more goals as Tottenham demolished Liverpool at Wembley for a fourth successive Premier League win.
Diego Maradona watched from the stands as the in-form striker fired his side into an early lead with his 12th of the season and then rounded off a formidable Spurs performance with his second and the team’s fourth on 56 minutes.
He was arguably at fault as the visitors pulled a goal back following Heung-Min Son’s close-range second – Kane losing possession in midfield as Jordan Henderson’s superb through-ball found the finisher Mohamed Salah.
But Dele Alli notched his first league goal since August to make it 3-1 on the cusp of half-time and Kane blasted in his 17th for club and country this term, as Spurs moved level on points with second-placed Manchester United.
Such is the confidence of Mauricio Pochettino and his players after just eight games of the campaign, the manager played an unfamiliar 3-5-2 set-up that included right-back Serge Aurier at left-back and a three-man midfield of Harry Winks, Christian Eriksen and Alli.
It was the first time defensive midfielder Eric Dier was dropped to the bench this term but Spurs did not appear to need him as they capitalised on poor Liverpool defending to race into a two-goal lead.
Winks put through Kane for the opener with the simplest of chips over the top, which had Dejan Lovren, who was eventually subbed off after half an hour, and Joel Matip failing to deal with both the ball and Kane, who found the bottom corner.
Lovren then mis-timed his interception from a long punt forward from Hugo Lloris, allowing Kane to dart into the channel and cross to Son, who later hit the bar with a superb volley, for an easy tap in on 12 minutes.
After some excellent skill, Kane was arguably fouled in midfield as he lost possession for the Liverpool goal, but he should have released it sooner before Salah latched onto Henderson’s perfectly-weighted pass to finish past Lloris from a tight angle.
But the Reds barely threatened again for the rest of the game, as both Son and Kane went close before Alli restored the two-goal lead when he volleyed home a poor clearance from the edge of the box.
Kane made it four 11 minutes after the interval after Jan Vertonghen’s shot was cleared off the line by Roberto Firmino, and Hugo Lloris kept out Philippe Coutinho’s late strike with a superb save, tipping the effort onto the crossbar.
This post was last modified on 22/10/2017