Wow… well I don’t think anyone could have predicted that.
What a performance from Kane. The team were excellent tonight, but I cannot review this game without giving a special mention to the superstar that is Harry Kane. He scored four goals tonight in hot pursuit of that Golden Boot. It was Heung-Min Son who chipped in with the other two, hitting landmark 20th and 21st goals of the season, a tally he’s never reached before in his career.
In a game that was ultimately comfortable from the first whistle, bar 15 or so minutes after the break, Tottenham started on the front foot. Son had three glorious chances to break the deadlock, but fired wide on all accounts. At that moment you couldn’t have been criticised for thinking it might be one of those days for the Korean, but in truth, it was only a matter of time. On the 24 minute mark, the 24 year old was released down the right flank with acres of space. He pulled a fizzing ball back to the on-rushing Kane, who impressively changed the shape of his body to connect with the low cross that was slightly behind him, with very little time to think about it, and the ball nestled into the far corner.
Just eleven minutes later and Tottenham had doubled their lead. Dele Alli got the assist here for Son’s first strike of the game, as he lofted a ball over the defence, dropping delightfully for Son who twisted his body ‘round to whack the ball into the near corner with the keeper grasping at air. An exemplary first half from Tottenham had suppressed Leicester’s fast and direct football and had them camped in their own box. Leicester had only a few sniffs at goal, but Lloris had very little cause for concern with Dier, Alderweireld and Vertonghen sweeping up any long balls aimed at England forward Jamie Vardy.
The second half saw a massive improvement from Leicester, who looked like they’d had their heads banged together by Craig Shakespeare at half time. They came out fighting for some actual time on the ball and tested the resilience of the Tottenham defence. Eventually, their persistence was rewarded when a long ball for Vardy was charged down by Hugo Lloris, well outside the box. The ball sprung loose, rebounding off Leicester forwards as desperate Spurs defenders threw their bodies on the line while Lloris frantically sprinted back to goal. 21 year old Ben Chilwell found himself with the ball on the edge of the area and the young man’s composure must be commended here as he gave one defender the slip before coolly slotting the ball between our French captain and Eric Dier on the line for 2-1. That’s his first goal for Leicester City.
By now the King Power Stadium had woken up. The fans were jumping and singing, causing even the camera to bounce as the match was recorded. However, just four minutes later the life was to be completely sucked out of the home stands once more. On the 63 minute mark, Spurs hit back, sending crosses into the box knowing Leicester just couldn’t cope with the aerial ability of the Tottenham side. Some fine team play eventually saw Sissoko play Alderweireld through on the right flank. He played a floating cross to the back post where Kenyan anchor midfielder Victor Wanyama nodded the ball back across the box, where Kane could simply head the ball into the back of the net from point blank range, under absolutely no pressure.
And from there, the floodgates opened. Eight minutes later and Son, leading a counter-attack, had team-mates to choose from on either side. He really didn’t need them. He cut inside on to his right foot, and from outside the box, struck a lovely placed effort into the bottom corner. A goal quite reminiscent to his strike a few weeks back against Watford. Calm and confident, Son pulled off a really composed goal. Next up was the Harry Kane show. Heading into the final minutes of the game, Kane looked to determine to at least complete his hat-trick, which he did in the 88th minute, striking from outside the box with a driven shot towards the inside post, which took Schmeichel completely by surprise.
That strike made Kane the first Spurs striker to score four hat-tricks in one season since Jimmy Greaves back in 1968/69. But he wasn’t finished there. Three minutes later and Kane finds space in almost the exact same position again and fires in an almost identical shot. It of course hits the net and before you know it, Kane has four for the first time in his career.
Truthfully, this was over as a contest when Kane made it 3-1 just after the hour mark. It became a shooting regime at the end. Dele Alli had a go from outside the box, Janssen had a pop just before that. Janssen even found the net too before Kane’s hat-trick was completed, but the flag went up for offside much to the Dutchman’s frustration. Just imagine, if the linesman had been as asleep as the Leicester players, it could have been seven. There’s not much more we can ask for though. Kane’s the current top scorer in the league, we’ve just won 6-1 away from home and we’re on 83 points. Fun fact; that’s two more points than Leicester achieved last season. I think we can all consider the former champions Leicester City thoroughly dethroned.
COYS.
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