Harry Kane scored his seventh and eighth goals in five matches as
Tottenham Hotspur dispatched West Ham United 4-1 on Sunday to close on
the Premier League's top four.Defenders Toby Alderweireld and Kyle
Walker also found the net at a chilly White Hart Lane as Mauricio
Pochettino's side equalled the club record of 12 successive Premier
League games without defeat.Spurs now trail third-place Manchester
City and fourth-place Arsenal by just two points and look ideally
placed for an assault on the Champions League berths ahead of next
weekend's home game with spluttering champions Chelsea, who will not
relish the trip to north London.The only disappointment for Pochettino
was the booking collected by rising star Dele Alli following a shoving
match with Mark Noble, which rules the England newcomer out of the
Chelsea game.It was only a second defeat in 10 league games for Slaven
Bilic's West Ham, who replied late on through Manuel Lanzini, and left
them three points adrift of Spurs in sixth place.The visitors badly
missed injured playmaker Dimitri Payet, whose place was taken by
Diafra Sakho in West Ham's only change.Bilic strung his midfielders
across the pitch in a 4-1-4-1 system, with Sakho wide on the right, in
an attempt to stop Spurs' centre-backs sliding passes into the feet of
Alli, Christian Eriksen and the fit-again Son Heung-Min, who replaced
the suspended Erik Lamela.Victor Moses gave Spurs early concern by
skipping past Mousa Dembele and crossing from the left, but Spurs
looked in control and after Eriksen had warmed Adrian's palms from
range, they took a 23rd-minute lead.Alli's shot from the edge of the
box was partially blocked and fell to Kane, who easily rolled Carl
Jenkinson before rifling a left-foot shot into the roof of the net for
his seventh goal of the league campaign.West Ham threatened to reply
immediately when Cheikhou Kouyate volleyed acrobatically against the
crossbar after Noble's blocked shot ballooned into the air.But in the
33rd minute the hosts added a second, Alderweireld outjumping Andy
Carroll at the near post and nodding in Eriksen's corner.Spurs should
have put the game out of sight before half-time.Alli headed against
the bar after Adrian had thwarted Son and moments later Kane was sent
clean through, only to miscue horribly and bobble a left-foot shot
well wide.It did not take long for him to atone, however, as an
ill-advised attempt to play the ball out from the back by West Ham
gifted Spurs their third goal five minutes after the change of
ends.The reluctant recipient of a throw from Adrian, Tomkins passed
the ball straight to Eriksen, who moved it on to Kane, and the England
striker drove a low strike through Adrian from outside the box.Adrian
should have done better than allow the ball to slip beneath him, but
he provided a firmer barrier shortly after, blocking from Son at his
near post and then parrying Eriksen's volleyed follow-up.Walker was
booked after a needless face-off with Sakho, but the right-back made
amends in the 83rd minute by using the outside of his right foot to
curl Son's lay-off around Adrian's forlorn dive and into the
net.Lanzini denied Hugo Lloris a clean sheet by flummoxing Walker with
a step-over and slamming home left-footed, but Spurs finished
strongly, with substitute Ryan Mason hitting the post.
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