Tottenham Hotspur has moved into the top four of the Premier League standings as Harry Kane netted a hat-trick in a 5-2 victory over Southampton on Boxing Day.
Kane had been hoping to break Alan Shearer’s 22-year record for Premier League goals scored in a calendar year and the 24-year-old did just that as he moved to 39 strikes with a ruthless treble on Tuesday afternoon.
A free kick from the left-hand side of the penalty area found the run of Kane, who was able to power a header into an open goal after getting in front of Oriol Romeu.
Kane was eager to add more goals to his tally for the year and although the forward failed with two long-range efforts, he would soon score a second, again from close range.
After Alli turned on the edge of the area, the midfielder played the ball through to Son Heung-min, who sent in a cross for Kane to net from inside the six-yard box.
There was every indication that the Saints were going to run Spurs close but the North Londoners quickly added a third through Alli, who curled the ball into the bottom corner from 20 yards for his first goal in 11 matches.
Two minutes later, Son extended his side’s advantage after latching onto Alli’s perfectly-weighted through-ball before drilling a shot into the bottom corner from 12 yards out.
Kane came close to completing his treble with a low shot across goal, but Southampton were able to grab a consolation in the 64th minute when Boufal’s effort beat Lloris at his near post.
However, Spurs reestablished their four-goal margin just three minutes later as Alli threaded a ball through to Kane, who proceeded to clip the ball over Forster and into the net for his eighth hat-trick of 2017.
The Saints did add a second consolation goal after the match had entered the final 10 minutes, with Tadic finding the corner of the net via Lloris’s hand after the ball had only been cleared to the edge of the area.
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