MOTD: Stoke City 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur

By on April 18, 2016

And then there were two. Dele Alli and Harry Kane each scored a brace to give Tottenham Hotspur a convincing win over Stoke City that officially makes the Premier League title race a two-horse race between Leicester City and Spurs.

Back in August, you could have scored similar odds that the Loch Ness Monster would emerges to battle Elvis for the Scottish heavyweight title. But at this point in the season, no other teams have showcased the same quality and verve that Spurs and Leicester have displayed week in and week out.

Spurs have lost just one of their last sixteen Premier League away outings and this was another textbook win for Mauricio Pochettino’s men. Stoke City were reduced to onlookers while Tottenham pulled themselves within five points of the league leaders Leicester to heat up the title race. With just four matches left in the Premier League season, each team knows what they need to do to win the title. For Leicester, that means three wins from their last four matches and on the part of Tottenham, a perfect finish will likely be required. Lose just one of their last four matches and Leicester could have an insurmountable eight goal cushion.

Pochettino’s men continued their hot pursuit of Leicester with unfettered confidence and cool execution. Kane and Alli sliced through Stoke’s back line like hot butter and Spurs could easily have run rampant in what was supposed to be one of their tougher assignments of their run-in as Eriksen thumped the crossbar Alli missed the open goal and an opportunity to score a hat-trick.

“It’s fantastic, the mentality and everything we’ve showed from the start of the season,” said Pochettino.

Kane opened the scoring on eight minutes, cutting in from the left and bending a gorgeous effort into the bottom right corner of the net.

Spurs came so desperately close when Alli’s lovely flick put Eriksen in on goal, but the Danish midfielder got the ball stuck under his feet and struck the crossbar with his rushed shot.

Yet Eriksen made up for the miss with a stunning diagonal ball to assist Alli on the other side of the half. The English midfielder burst in behind Stoke’s back-line and found the back of the net with the most nonchalant of flicks. He went cart-wheeling towards the corner flag to celebrate as Spurs cruised to the victory.

Alli had a chance to put the game to bed, rounding Shay Given on the break, but hit the post with the open net gaping.

Moments later, though, Alli made sure to put the game to bed, slipping Erik Lamela in down the left. The Argentine winger cut it back for Kane, who had the simplest of finishes to give Tottenham a 3-0 lead. It was his twenty-fourth goal of Spurs’ league campaign and only Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero has scored more league goals since the start of last season.

Stoke City boss Mark Hughes had no shame in admitting that Spurs quite simply outclassed Stoke.

“They are an outstanding team and were quicker to every ball, and had a bit more quality in key areas of the pitch,” he said, via Stoke’s official website.

“We struggled all evening to deal with their power and pace all over the pitch to be perfectly honest.

“They were more intelligent with their play tonight and you can see why they are where they are in the league table at the moment.”

Alli added another with nine minutes to go, volleying home from Eriksen’s clipped cross. Few teams can so comprehensively dismantle Stoke City on a cold, rainy night at the Britannia and the Potters have only once before lost by a four goal margin at home. Tottenham, though, are on fire and the title race is heating up.

Man of the Match: Dele Alli

Homepage photo credit: enviro warrior from england (Harry Kane) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.