Spurs smash Bournemouth and move up to second in Premier League

Posted Thursday, December 27, 2018 by PA

Tottenham continued their brilliant festive period with a 5-0 rout over Bournemouth that takes them above Manchester City into second in the Premier League.

Spurs came into the game on the back of the 6-2 mauling of Everton on Sunday and again brought their shooting boots as Christian Eriksen, Son-Heung Min (2), Lucas Moura and Harry Kane found the net at Wembley.

It gave them an eighth Premier League win from the last nine games and keeps them firmly in the title race, still six points behind leaders Liverpool.

So much for Spurs becoming distracted at speculation linking boss Mauricio Pochettino to Manchester United. Since Jose Mourinho’s Old Trafford exit not only did they thrash Everton but also beat Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup.

They initially struggled to recreate the fluidity of that Goodison Park win and were lucky not to fall behind in the 14th minute as Ryan Fraser’s ball over the top played David Brooks in, but the Wales international could not get enough on his shot to lift it over Hugo Lloris.

There was even more luck involved as they went ahead two minutes later.

Eriksen received the ball 20 yards out and his left-footed shot cannoned off Jefferson Lerma, completely wrong-footing Asmir Begovic and diverting into the bottom corner.

They went further ahead seven minutes later, with Son finding the same corner as his hot streak continued.

The South Korea international was teed up by Kyle Walker-Peters after some poor defending from Charlie Daniels and stroked home from the edge of the area for his sixth goal in seven games.

Walker-Peters, who also passed to Eriksen for the opener, then made it a trio of assists 10 minutes before the break as Winks found the young left-back with a nice ball over the top and he squared for Moura, who could not miss from 12 yards.

Bournemouth could have changed the complexion of the game before half-time, but spurned two good chances, first Junior Stanislas headed straight at Lloris before the France captain produced a fine stop to keep out Daniels’ header.

While Spurs might have already had the points in the bag by the interval, there was one man who was still desperate to get on the scoresheet.

Kane, challenging for a third Golden Boot in four years, fired a free-kick straight at Begovic, but he was not to be denied as he scored the goal of the game just after the hour.

Eriksen flighted in a delightful ball over the top and the England captain struck his 12th league goal of the season with a superb first-time finish over his shoulder.

The fifth came nine minutes later after Kane had tried to walk it in, Moura fired in a shot that Begovic could only parry and Son put the rebound away from close range.

Lys Mousset headed wide and Daniels speared an effort also just off target for the Cherries, but they could not deny Spurs a record league win at Wembley. With Manchester City losing at Leicester, Pochettino’s side moved up to second.