Tottenham Hotspur produced another thrilling attacking display to see off the threat of Everton on Sunday, winning 3-2 to close the gap on Chelsea ahead of the Blues’ match with West Ham United on Monday night.
It was Mauricio Pochettino’s 100th win as a manager in English football, his 77th as Tottenham boss and his side appear to be going from strength to strength under his leadership.
For Everton there were positives to take too, although they would have been aiming for at least a point to keep pace with Manchester United in sixth. It was always going to be tough for Ronald Koeman’s side to get a result but at the very least they showed a never-say-die attitude that will have pleased the travelling support.
In a thrilling encounter from start to finish, what were the big takeaways?
Here are the FIVE things we learned from Sunday’s big match…
No-one is better than Harry Kane right now
Moving onto 19 Premier League goals for the season, Harry Kane now stands alone at the top of the goalscoring charts, proving that no-one is better than him right now. It was another attacking clinic from the English international, scoring a brace and generally being a pest to the Everton backline throughout the match.
He’s now scored an incredible 14 goals in 2017 alone, across 12 matches and has now scored 14 home league goals this season, more than any other Spurs player in the Premier League era.
It’s all rather remarkable and the craziest thing of all is that he shows now signs of slowing down. Where will his total this season end?
Dele Alli isn’t far behind
If Harry Kane is one of the best around in the Premier League right now then Dele Alli isn’t far behind. The 20 year old set-up one and scored what proved to be a vital third, meaning he has now directly contributed to four goals in his last four matches.
The attacking midfielder is having a breathtaking season and has now scored 15 goals in all competitions for the Lilywhites, notching up another 3 assists.
It’s clear to see he enjoys playing with Harry Kane too. The duo have built up quite the relationship and if Spurs can retain both in the years to come then they could contribute to an era of massive success at the club.
Romelu Lukaku will always find a way to impact a game
Even 2-0 down at White Hart Lane with ten minutes left, Romelu Lukaku never gives up or shirks his responsibility to the Everton team.
Looking isolated for the majority of the game, he finally found himself in space and slotted home in clinical fashion to score his 18th Premier League goal of the season. That tally already equals his league total from last season and he’s destined to have his best year yet as a professional.
He also became Everton’s leading goalscorer in the Premier League era, moving onto 61 in total, one beyond Duncan Ferguson.
His importance to the Everton side cannot be overstated.
This is one of the best Spurs sides ever
Spurs are now unbeaten in their first 14 home top-flight league games of a season for the first time since 1964/65. Think about that, that’s over 50 years of football that they’ve failed to emulate that. They’re proving to be one of the best Spurs sides in history and it would be a crying shame if Mauricio Pochettino could not deliver serious silverware at some point in his time at the club.
It’s the consistency that is so impressive and so indicative of a fantastic team. They are on the verge of historic greatness and supporters must be incredibly excited about the next step.
Koeman is sometimes too cautious
If Everton had played with the attacking intent they showed in the last 10 minutes of the game across the entire 90 minutes then the match may have turned out much differently. The Toffees have the attacking chops to take on anyone in the division and perhaps should have backed themselves to be able to match Spurs toe-to-toe.
You can see where Ronald Koeman was coming from in trying to counter the attacking play of Spurs but they were 2-0 down for a long time before they committed themselves forward.
Is Koeman perhaps too pragmatic sometimes?
