Tottenham vs Bournemouth: Five-star Spurs move second after thrashing of Cherries
Tottenham 5-0 Bournemouth: Mauricio Pochettino's side exploded out of the blocks and never looked back at Wembley
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Your support makes all the difference.Tottenham followed up Sunday's 6-2 win at Everton with a five-goal demolition of Bournemouth and were richly rewarded with news that second place in the Premier League table is now theirs.
Of course, Manchester City's defeat at Leicester was also nectar to Liverpool, who now boast a six-point cushion at the top.
But this was further proof of why Mauricio Pochettino is being touted as the next permanent Manchester United manager, and why Spurs are currently streets ahead of the current Old Trafford set-up despite a mini-revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Bournemouth were unlucky with Christian Eriksen's deflected opener but subsided when Son Heung-min twice added to the scoreline either side of goals from Harry Kane and Lucas Moura.
The side that spent precisely zero on new players in the summer is now ahead of champions who routinely spend £50million on a left-back and may do exactly that in a few days time. It's all up for grabs going into 2019.
Pochettino made four changes from Sunday's storming of Goodison Park, which also saw Dele Alli come off worse in a tangle with Toffees goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. In came Lucas Moura to replace him but the majority of the tinkering was at the back, with Kyle Walker- Peters, Juan Foyth and Danny Rose drafted in alongside Toby Alderweireld.
The opening minutes were unedifying for a sparse crowd that made only sporadic noises; many Tottenham fans have given up on traipsing to Wembley even if they are season ticket holders and are instead waiting for the new White Hart Lane to open at long last.
The first chance belonged to Bournemouth when Simon Francis crossed from the right in the 13th minute but Junior Stanislas got in the way of team-mate Ryan Fraser as the latter came in to head towards goal and Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was able to gather.
Tottenham failed to heed to warning and had Lloris again to thank for pouching a chip attempt by David Brooks, who was played in behind the home defence by Jefferson Lerma.
Spurs' response was to take a 16th-minute lead with one of the scrappiest goals of the season. Eriksen tried his luck from outside the box after Walker-Peters had set him up and the Dabe saw his left-footed effort take a hefty deflection off Lerma to wrongfoot Cherries goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Tottenham almost doubled the advantage straight away but Walker-Peters, having stolen in behind the away defence, could not connect with Kane's curled delivery to the back post.
Bournemouth's resistence was already crumbling however and Walker-Peters claimed another assist in the 23rd minute.
Charlie Daniels was the man at fault with a poor touch on his own box to allow the rookie right-back to steal possession and set up Son for a low shot beyond Begovic's grasp.
Moura appealed for a penalty for handball after he and Daniels had gone down in a tussle but referee Chris Kavanagh was having none of it.
The Brazilian soon forgot about that by slotting home goal number three in the 35th minute as Walker-Peters completed a hat-trick of assists with a cut back from the right of the box.
Bournemouth were desperate for a way back into the match before the break but Stanislas thrashed one chance well over, poked another tamely at Lloris and then headed Fraser's cross at the Frenchman, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday.
Worse was to come for the visitors as Francis, fooled completely by Son's dragback and flick, hit the turf heavily and had to be stretchered off. The half ended with Daniels' header from Fraser's cross blocked on the line by Lloris.
Bournemouth had a penalty shout denied them when Foyth bundled Callum Wilson over just a couple of minutes into the second period.
The Cherries then put the ball in the Tottenham net in the 53rd when Diego Rico, on for Francis, set up Stanislas, who was flagged offside.
Kane had been quiet apart from the occasional deft touch but fired a free-kick straight at Begovic before netting number four on the hour mark. Eriksen was the provider on this occasion; the Dane spotted Kane's run and the England captain did the rest with a left-footed volley on the turn that was worthy of a better contest than this one.
Still Stanislas persevered in his one-man crusade for a consolation goal but Danny Rose flubg himself in the way of a well-struck effort. Lys Mousset, on for Wilson, then headed just wide before Son scored again.
Kane made it by getting the better of Nathan Ake in the box, falling over but still setting up Rose, who also fell over, and then getting up to set up Lucas for a shot that Begovic could only parry to the South Korean for a simple finish.
Bournemouth, and Stanislas, continue attacking to the end but ended up with nothing more than polite applause.
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