26th December, 2018
Tottenham moved into second place in the Premier League table as they ruthlessly saw off Bournemouth 5-0 to record a fifth league win in a row.
BBC reports that Mauricio Pochettino’s side scored their 11th goal in four days to move above Manchester City, who were beaten at Leicester, and remain six points behind leaders Liverpool.
Right-back Kyle Walker-Peters put in a superb performance as he created all three of Spurs’ first-half goals.
The 21-year-old teed up Christian Eriksen to open the scoring with a deflected effort, before Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura strikes put the hosts firmly in control.
Harry Kane added a fourth from a clever Eriksen pass and Son grabbed his second after a scramble in the Bournemouth box.
The hosts rode their luck moments before Eriksen’s opener, with Ryan Fraser heading against team-mate Junior Stanislas on the line and David Brooks just unable to lift Jefferson Lerma’s pass over goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
But Spurs made the visitors pay with three goals in 22 minutes as Eriksen’s drive struck Lerma to wrong-foot goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, before Son finished smartly from the edge of the box and Moura turned in Walker-Peters’ clever pull-back.
Kane volleyed in just after the hour mark to effectively put the game beyond the Cherries, and Son continued his impressive run of form by adding his second 20 minutes from time.
Tottenham’s campaign is gathering pace. This was their 12th victory in 14 games in all competitions and one that maintains their best start to a Premier League season.
Twenty-four days after a humbling defeat by north London rivals Arsenal that meant they started December by dropping out of the top four, Spurs are in the last 16 of the Champions League, the Carabao Cup semi-finals and now sit second in the Premier League.
On chairman Daniel Levy’s Christmas wishlist will have no doubt have been moving into the club’s new home, fending off interest in their sought-after boss and adding silverware to their trophy cabinet for the first time in more than a decade.
But Levy and manager Pochettino will surely be delighted at Spurs’ festive period so far as they added to Sunday’s 6-2 victory at Everton with another clinical attacking display.
Pochettino has suggested the club may go a second transfer window without making a signing in January, and he can be thankful for the performance of one of the club’s academy products against Bournemouth.
Walker-Peters continuously got the better of Charlie Daniels to create Tottenham’s opening three goals, pinching the ball off the Bournemouth left-back before teeing up Son’s first and then drifting on to a well-weighted pass from another of Spurs’ graduates, Harry Winks, to set up Moura.
The 21-year-old was assured defensively too, which can reassure Pochettino that he can be called on if Spurs look to rotate while attempting to compete on four fronts.