Tottenham retuned to winning ways after a poor outing in the Europa League which saw them getting knocked out of the competition at the hands of Gent. It was an Harry Kane show, once again, as he scored another hat-trick for the home side and setup the fourth goal as well.
Spurs were excellent against Stoke City and could have scored many more had it not been for some decent goalkeeping from the opposition. Kane kept on creating the chances and even though he could not score more than the three, he was easily the man-of-the-match in the win.
Kane starts on fire
This was Kane’s 17th goal in the Premier League and his third hat-trick in 2017. The Englishman was playing in a 3-4-2-1 formation that Mauricio Pochettino seems to deploy now, after the first leg loss against Gent, and Kane was ably supported by the likes of Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli.
The English striker got the game going with the first goal, it just exemplified what Kane is all about. He battled his way through the Stoke City defence and slotted in an inch-perfect shot which Lee Grant, the Stoke keeper, could not keep out.
Kane had six shots in the game and scored his second goal with a sumptuous volley taken from a corner. There will be questions raised as to how the Englishman was left unattended just outside the penalty box but there still was a lot to do.
The Englishman did call for the ball and Eriksen duly delivered but Kane slotted in a brilliant volley which again gave the Stoke keeper no chance of saving.
The third came thanks to a free kick, although the initial shot was going into the goal, Grant should have been able to save it but there was a horrendous deflection which left the goalie flat-footed and Kane could celebrate yet another hat-trick for Spurs.
It just wasn’t his shooting boots that Kane had on, while he had completed his hat-trick in just 37 minutes, he was all of running in the game and even before his third goal, he had a great chance to score with a curling effort but was inches wide.
Kane also displayed his great control and presence of mind in time added on in the first half as he flicked the ball around Bruno Martins Indi, raced into the open pitch and instead of trying to score the fourth, he calmly slotted the ball across for Dele Alli to score.
The Englishman was great with his passing as well, Kane had a passing accuracy of 92% in the game and certainly made life hard for the Stoke defenders.
The second half certainly wasn’t as action packed for Kane as the first one with players such as Kyle Walker and Eriksen trying to get on the score sheet, while Alli probably had the best chance of the second half.
Kane has to continue this kind of form should Tottenham win the FA Cup and finish high in the Champions League places and there was a scare in the second half when he almost hurt himself trying to score his fourth.
The Englishman did collide with the post with his leg making contact and with Vincent Janssen still not firing on all cylinders, there were fears that Kane had injured himself seriously. Fortunately for Spurs, Kane wasn’t hurt and he continued on.
Tottenham don’t have the toughest run of fixtures in the final leg of the season and if Kane keeps on firing, he will ensure Tottenham might have something to celebrate at the end of the season.
Stats taken from Squawka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIelBmmZdhE
