Tottenham Hotspur vs Bournemouth match report: Harry Kane at the double to keep the heat on leaders Leicester

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Bournemouth 0

(2016 Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur are still five points behind Leicester City and know that they need favours to win the title. But at White Hart Lane yesterday they looked like the best team in the country.

With all the pressure of expectation upon them, Spurs gave what Mauricio Pochettino described as a “complete performance”, turning Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth into mere spectators for the afternoon. The 3-0 result barely covers their absolute superiority all over the pitch, in all facets of the game.

When Spurs played just as well here to beat Watford 1-0 six weeks ago, Quique Sanchez Flores said that they had played like “animals”. That is how it felt yesterday too, as Spurs swarmed all over Bournemouth, never allowing them to play any part in one of the most one-sided matches of the season.

When Spurs went in for the kill, Bournemouth could do nothing to stop them and once it was 2-0 after 16 minutes it felt as if the scoreline could have been whatever the home side wanted.

Tottenham settled on 3-0 in the end, extending their goal difference lead over Leicester to nine. They are still five points back, though, so they will need Claudio Ranieri’s team to fail to win at least two of their remaining games, even if Spurs win every one.

“You never know,” shrugged Pochettino when asked if his team can make up the gap. “It is true that we need to reduce to gap. But we need to believe, keep our standards high and go into the next game looking to perform like this again.”

It will certainly be easier for Spurs to keep playing like this, with so much intensity and speed, now that they are out of the Europa League. Pochettino wants to win every game and competition, but he admitted that there will be a real benefit to their European elimination.

“We will have time to prepare games in a different way,” Pochettino said, “to train and improve and do a lot of things that were impossible before. Our clear schedule should allow us to do double sessions once or twice a week. We need to see our future in a very good way.”

If Spurs do play like this until the end of the season they will certainly go close. They succeeded in almost everything that they tried to do, the midfield far upgraded by the return of Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele, both rested for the futile second leg against Borussia Dortmund on Thursday night.

Along with Eric Dier, they controlled the game, with Kyle Walker and Danny Rose providing the width and Dele Alli and Erik Lamela trying to pick their way through.

At the forefront of everything Spurs did, as always, was Harry Kane. He remains Spurs’ least replaceable player, and therefore the most important one. If it felt in February that Kane was tiring and fading, to Spurs’ cost, that has been utterly disproved in March. He scored his fourth and fifth goals in his last three league games – his 20th and 21st of the season – to match his tally from last season. His shot made the third and, in truth, he could have scored far more than he did.

The game was over as a contest after just 44 seconds. Hugo Lloris hit a quick kick out to Walker and the right-back raced down the wing and fired in a cross. Kane darted goal-side of Simon Francis and his slight touch diverted the ball into the far bottom corner of the goal.

That goal hit Bournemouth hard and they offered very little resistance to the relentless Spurs attacks that followed. Some teams come to White Hart Lane, dig in, and make it difficult, but Bournemouth did not. Their open approach, trying to pass out from the back, made them easy prey for a team which presses with the intensity Tottenham do. Pochettino’s side won 5-1 at Dean Court in October and this game was more one-sided than that.

Having seen his side outplayed twice this year, Howe said that Spurs were the best team he has faced. “They have been excellent against us,” he said. “There is a lot that we can take from them. They work so hard and have such quality on the ball. We aspire to be like them one day.”

After taking that early lead, Spurs raised their game, and their second goal, after 16 minutes, was brilliantly put together. Kevin Wimmer’s pass found Dele Alli in space, and he cleverly slipped the ball through to Kane, again running in behind Francis. He finished with his left foot past Artur Boruc.

It felt surprising that Spurs did not score a third before the break, and at half-time Howe made a double change which did give his side some more threat in the second half. But it was not enough to hold back the waves of white.

Kane has already scored one hat-trick against Bournemouth this season and he was hunting another. When Boruc could not hold on to his 30-yard drive, Christian Eriksen tapped in the rebound. Kane might have scored from an Eriksen pass later on, but it was not to be.

Spurs were able to pass their way through the game’s final stages, preserving resources for the battles ahead. “The energy of the team is fantastic,” Pochettino said. “We showed that again today. When you come through a very busy period, playing a lot of games as we have over the last few weeks, you can feel very proud.”

Everyone at White Hart Lane does feel proud of this team and the Tottenham fans spent the final minutes singing a warning to Leicester City that they were coming for them. Spurs certainly are, although Kane insisted there was “no panic” and “no rush” to their pursuit.

Whether Leicester have given themselves enough breathing space already will be revealed soon enough.