Harry Kane scored twice and Christian Eriksen bagged the other in a commanding Tottenham victory at Goodison Park.
Kane struck with his first goal of the season and 100th in a Spurs shirt to open the scoring, finding the far corner from distance with an inadvertent cross-shot that looped over keeper Jordan Pickford.
Eriksen doubled their advantage three minutes before the interval when he pounced on a loose Pickford save, and Kane added the third straight after half-time from a Ben Davies cross.
Sandro Ramirez and Wayne Rooney went close for Everton, who have top-six aspirations themselves but were clearly second best to last season’s Premier League runners-up.
Spurs benefitted from a switch in system by boss Mauricio Pochettino to a 3-5-2, which allowed summer signing Davinson Sanchez to make his full debut at centre-back and Dele Alli to join Kane up front.
The visitors found huge areas of space and Moussa Sissoko, playing in central midfield, should have given them an earlier lead with a close-range effort he sent straight at the goalkeeper, after Spurs had carved the Toffees open with four passes from back to front.
Ramirez, whom Tottenham were once interested in signing, went close to his first Everton goal early on when he poked a cross from Cuco Martina wide of the near post, and ex-Spurs forward Gylfi Sigurdsson also threatened with a volley over the bar.
But Spurs grabbed their deserved lead on 28 minutes when Kane curled home from a position 35 yards out and wide to the right of the penalty area near the touchline.
Tottenham remained in control and a swift breakaway yielded the second goal 14 minutes later when Pickford parried Davies’ hard shot straight into the path of Eriksen, who found the corner from close range.
Both Kane and Alli could have made it 3-0 before the Toffees were booed off at half-time, but Kane was given a straightforward tap-in for the third from Davies’ pinpoint cross three minutes into the second half.
Eriksen went closest to a fourth moments later when Kane set him up for a first-time volley he sent whirling into Pickford’s grasp, but three goals proved enough as Everton failed to threaten a comeback.
Idrissa Gueye sent a shot wide of the near post from distance and Rooney missed with a close-range header, but Alli might have made it a mauling with a curling effort that whizzed past the top of the crossbar late on.
Tottenham (3-5-2): Lloris; Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Trippier, Dier, Sissoko (Winks 77), Eriksen (Dembele 70), Davies; Alli, Kane (Son 85)
Subs not used: Vorm, Llorente, Aurier, Walker-Peters
This post was last modified on 09/09/2017