- 12-straight home wins in PL
- Won 15 of 17 PL games at home, unbeaten
- Spurs close gap on Chelsea to 4 points
- Bournemouth without a win in four
LONDON -- Tottenham closed the gap to Premier League leaders Chelsea to four points on Saturday as they comfortably dispatched Bournemouth 4-0 at White Hart Lane.
Two goals in the space of three first half minutes set Spurs on their way with Mousa Dembele opening the scoring and Heung-min Son scored his seventh goal in his last six games.
After the break Harry Kane scored on his first start since Mar. 12 to make it 3-0 and substitute Vincent Janssen made it 4-0 in stoppage time.
With the win Mauricio Pochettino’s side stay in second place and are on 71 points, putting the pressure on Chelsea (Spurs and who head to Manchester United on Sunday. Bournemouth remain on 35 points and are much closer to the relegation zone than they’d like.
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A slow start saw Spurs gradually build their way into the game with Dembele’s shot saved well down low by Artur Boruc.
Moments later a moment of controversy led to Spurs’ opening goal as Dele Alli and Harry Arter went in for a challenge and the ball rebounded out with referee Michael Oliver awarding a corner kick. From that corner the ball found Dembele and he controlled well before slotting home. 1-0 to Spurs.
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Three minutes later it was 2-0 to Spurs as Jack Wilshere, much to the delight of the home fans, saw his ball deflect off Eric Dier and Kane’s delightful back heel set up Son to finish. 2-0.
Before the break Bournemouth pressed for a way back into the game as Junior Stanislas whipped in a delightful ball from the right flank but neither Benik Afobe and Josh King couldn’t get on the end of it.
Spurs came close to adding to their lead but Eriksen wad denied by Boruc and then fired over from 12 yards out, while Son was also denied by Bournemouth’s goalkeeper.
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123 seconds into the second half Spurs were 3-0 up as Alli’s ball into the box found Kane and he turned Simon Francis easily before slotting home. 3-0. Game over.
4 - Harry Kane is only the 4th player to score 20+ goals in 3 consecutive @premierleague seasons (Shearer, Henry, van Nistelrooy). Elite. pic.twitter.com/bHYKYzKUZ1
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 15, 2017
Kane then had another glorious chance moments later as Eriksen played him in but he hit a tame effort straight at Boruc.
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On-loan Arsenal man Wilshere was then forced off with an ankle injury as he blocked Kane’s shot, much to the delight of Tottenham’s fans, as the England midfielder looks set for another layoff.
Kane went close again as Spurs aimed to put some more gloss on the scoreline with Bournemouth second best from star to finish.
Eriksen forced a good stop down low from Boruc as Spurs pushed forward time and time again with Son’s low shot deflected just wide.
The north Londoners added a fourth goal in stoppage time as sub Janssen finished well. 4-0.
Over to you, Chelsea.