Tottenham 4-0 West Brom: Highlights and recap

Tottenham thrashed West Brom 4-0 at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham side welcome Tony Pulis and West Brom to White Hart Lane in the Premier League’s early kickoff on Saturday. Spurs have been in rampant form of late winning their last six games on the trot and scoring 17 goals in the process. Dele Alli and Harry Kane have been in inspired form but it’s the form of the former that is really carrying Spurs right now. In his last four starts, Alli has netted a stunning seven times and his partnership with Kane has been sublime.

Tony Pulis has always been a great manager but it could be argued that his current tenure of West Brom is his most impressive to date. He has taken a side that were struggling and turned them into a top-half side. The major change though for this Pulis side is that they actually try and play soccer. They’re still a strong and well-drilled side who can grind out games but they also have players like Matt Phillips, Nacer Chadli and Salomon Rondon who give them a legitimate attacking threat. Both sides are riding high on confidence this week but Spurs should just have the edge. Tony Pulis will approach this match with a defensive-minded approach but he will know that his side can’t sit too deep or they will be punished.

Recap

Tottenham dominated the first half from start to finish. Kane went close twice early on before eventually opening the scoring from close range after a beautiful pass from Christian Eriksen. The Danish midfielder was probably the standout performer in a Spurs team full of impressive performers. Eriksen doubled Tottenham’s lead in the 25th minute, though his shot took a big deflection of Gareth McAuley.

Pochettino’s side could have had a couple more after that, too. Alli put the ball in the back of the net after another excellent pass from Eriksen but it was disallowed for offside. West Brom’s only meaningful chance, a close-range Rondon strike from a Jonas Olsson knockdown, was ruled out for offside as well.

West Brom improved after the break, with Phillips going close in the opening minutes of the half. But the game lost direction after that. Spurs continued to dominate possession, but the pace of their attack dropped off with result all but assured.

The half looked to be notable primarily for a nasty-looking injury to Jan Vertonghen, who appeared to roll his ankle trying to keep the ball in play, before two quick goals from Kane put the game to bed. The first was the result of some sloppy defending from McAuley, while the second came after a lovely Alli assist. With his hat-trick, Kane moves onto 13 league goals, level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexis Sanchez, and trailing only Diego Costa among the league’s top scorers.

Highlights

Tottenham move into second place in the league after the win, a point above Liverpool, who play Manchester United on Sunday.

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West Brom stay in eighth place, where they’ll remain regardless of other results this weekend. Bournemouth can draw within a point of the Baggies with a win against Hull, while Everton can extend the gap to seventh to four points.