Tottenham jumped to third place in the Premier League thanks to an absolutely domineering 4-1 performance away against Watford.
Two goals each from Harry Kane and Dele Alli were enough to put the game beyond doubt by the opening minutes of the second half. From there Tottenham cruised to their fourth consecutive Premier League victory.
Watford’s injury problems were only worsened in the minutes before kickoff when Carlos Zuniga was forced out of the lineup with an ankle injury. The Colombian was the tenth Watford player left unavailable for this match through injury or suspension.
The impression that this was a depleted and even crippled opponent for Spurs’ New Years Day match was not clearly not an incorrect one. Mauricio Pochettino’s boys teased at Watford’s goal for the opening half hour before the levies finally broke.
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It began with a goal from Kane. Watford narrowly prevented his first attempt, only for Kieran Trippier to latch onto the deflected ball and send it in for the England international to finish off.
It was Trippier once again who found himself in possession on Watford’s defensive left just six minutes later. A drilled cross found Kane once again to double Tottenham’s advantage.
Those two opening goals proved why exactly Trippier is such a valuable plan B to Kyle Walker, who served a suspension for this match. While Walker offers a more complete presence on the right flank — both defensive and offensive — Trippier has a knack for getting into dangerous areas and sending in even more dangerous crosses.
Trippier and Kane weren’t the only Spurs players thrilled with their first half. Less than ten minutes after Kane’s second, Dele Alli surged into Watford’s box and scored the visitor’s third goal of the day.
However dominant Tottenham’s performance in the first half was, there remained the sense that their job wasn’t quite done yet.
Within two minutes from the whistle after the interval, Kane found Dele with an arced pass into Watford’s area and Spurs lead widened to four goals.
With Watford unable to muster anything close to a proper attack, Tottenham cruised through the remainder of the second half. A sloppy goal from Watford in stoppage time — scored by former Spurs man Younes Kaboul — didn’t do much to change the narrative.
With one eye toward Wednesday’s clash with Chelsea, Pochettino withdrew Dele in the 51st minute, Danny Rose in the 68th and finally Kane in the 77th. Harry Winks, Ben Davies and Vincent Janssen came in respectively.
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It’s tough to draw hard and fast conclusions from a performance like this. Tottenham traveled to Vicarage Road and played a exceptionally weak Watford team. A good result was always in the cards.
Still, you can’t underestimated Kane and Dele’s continued resurgence. Those two players were key to Tottenham’s third place finish last season, and their return to form seems set to drag the club back into the Champions League race.