Tottenham 4 West Ham 1: Kane hits double to continue fine form

Harry Kane made it eight goals in his last five games as his double helped Tottenham to an impressive 4-1 Premier League victory against London rivals West Ham on Sunday.

Kane’s turn and finish put Spurs in front midway through the first half, before Cheikhou Kouyate struck the crossbar for West Ham with an acrobatic effort.

Toby Alderweireld headed in a second and Dele Alli hit the bar in a frantic end to the first half, before Kane netted with a shot from the edge of the box and Kyle Walker produced a fine finish after the break.

Manuel Lanzini contributed an impressive consolation goal for the visitors, before substitute Ryan Mason smashed an effort against the post as a great day for the hosts was almsot rounded off by a fifth goal.

The convincing win at White Hart Lane pulls Tottenham to within two points of the top four and extends their unbeaten league run to 12 games since their loss to Manchester United on the opening day.

West Ham, meanwhile, miss the chance to move above Spurs in the table and have now picked up only one point from their last three matches.

Both sides made one change, with Spurs bringing in Son Heung-min for the suspended Erik Lamela, while the visitors started Diafra Sakho in place of the injured Dimitri Payet.

Tottenham dominated the early possession and went ahead in the 23rd minute.

Son found Alli, whose shot deflected into the path of Kane inside the box and the England striker turned Carl Jenkinson easily before firing in a powerful finish.

West Ham came so close to a spectacular equaliser when Kouyate crashed a brilliant overhead kick off the crossbar, although he should have been flagged for offside after Mark Noble’s blocked shot had looped into his path.

The visitors’ task became even tougher in the 33rd minute – Christian Eriksen’s corner finding Alderweireld, who had lost his marker Winston Reid, allowing the defender to head in simply from six yards out.

It could have been game over before half-time. Son worked space for himself at the edge of the area and when his shot was parried by Adrian, Alli’s looping header from the rebound hit the bar. 

It was one-way traffic and Kane should have scored when he was sent clean through by Alli, but he scuffed a left-footed effort terribly wide.

The third goal did arrive five minutes into the second half. James Tomkins gave away possession in an awful area deep inside his own half, allowing Eriksen to find Kane, who rifled in a shot under Adrian from the edge of the area, with the keeper making a poor attempt to save.

Adrian atoned for his mistake with an excellent double save moments later. Son’s effort from an angle was blocked, before he made an acrobatic stop to deny Eriksen’s goal-bound follow-up strike.

West Ham’s first attempt of a poor second half in which tempers flared did not come until the final 20 minutes when Reid headed straight at Hugo Lloris.

After playing his part earlier in a move that involved Eriksen, Walker played a neat one-two with Son and then found the far corner with the outside of his foot for a fine finish.

The England international was beaten by some brilliant skill from Lanzini with three minutes remaining, though, as he powered a shot into the roof of the net for a late consolation.

That was not the end of the drama, however, as Mason smashed a shot against the post from long range in the final moments as Spurs came close to a fifth.