LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Tottenham crushed Everton 6-2 Sunday to move within two points of second-placed Manchester City in the Premier League.
England captain Harry Kane returned to Tottenham’s starting lineup and scored two goals at Goodison Park.
After 18 rounds, league leader Liverpool has 48 points, Man City 44 and Tottenham 42.
“Everybody is talking about Liverpool and Man City, we are just kind of doing what we normally do,” Kane told Sky Sports. “We just have to have a strong December, January, February, all the way through and pretty much see where we are come April time.”
Former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott fired midtable Everton ahead in the 21st minute. Gylfi Sigurdsson slipped in Dominic Calvert-Lewin and the striker held off Kieran Trippier before crossing for Walcott to tap in from close range.
Tottenham needed just over five minutes to level through Son Heung-min.
The forward took advantage of a mix-up between Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and defender Kurt Zouma, who got in each other’s way attempting to clear a long Kane ball upfield, and Son produced a fine finish into an empty goal from a tight angle.
Spurs turned the game around in the 35th minute when Dele Alli was first to pounce on a superb Pickford parry from Son’s shot, drilling an effort home from 10 yards.
Kane made it 3-1 in the 42nd, tapping into an empty net after Kieran Trippier’s free-kick beat Pickford and came back off the post.
Alli, on the receiving end of a strong tackle from Pickford late on in the first half, was replaced by Erik Lamela at the interval.
Tottenham looked home and dry when Christian Eriksen drilled in a superb effort from 20 yards in the 48th.
But Everton responded instantly through former Spurs midfielder Sigurdsson, who evaded several challenges before firing low past Hugo Lloris.
Son added his second and Spurs’ fifth on the hour mark. Lamela put Son through and the South Korean took his time before sliding the ball under Pickford.
Kane emulated Son 13 minutes later, making it 6-2 with a neat finish from his fellow forward’s cross as Spurs put speculation linking manager Mauricio Pochettino with Manchester United behind them to stay within touching distance of Liverpool at the top of the table.
Kane tied a Premier League record with a double against Everton for the fourth successive match — only the second player after Michael Owen against Newcastle to score twice in four successive meetings against the same team.
After Walcott’s first league goal in four months, Everton could have been 2-0 up but for Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s disallowed header. The Toffees have not won since its added-time defeat in the Merseyside derby at the start of the month and have taken six points from a possible 21.
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