Harry Kane’s double dents Leicester’s top four hopes

Tottenham 3 Leicester 0

Tottenham might not have everything they want, but they are making big enough strides with what they have got. Their fourth win in five games came in a curious encounter whose overwhelming majority was played in their half, José Mourinho’s team absorbing pressure with fluctuating levels of comfort before taking Leicester apart three times in the first 40 minutes.

Harry Kane was outstanding, scoring twice and playing a major part in the James Justin own goal that set them off, but Mourinho would be justified in framing the afternoon as a triumph of planning. Spurs do not always make smooth watching but they purred when given the invitation and struck brutally at the heart of Leicester's frailties; it should now prove good enough for a Europa League spot and, from where they were, that may count as a season redeemed.

This may yet become a campaign squandered for Leicester, who are now likely to find themselves behind Manchester United when they contest what is in effect a Champions League play-off next Sunday. They retain control of their destiny but this blow to their goals-conceded column may prove costly, and a repeat of the brittleness shown here will surely be punished anew.

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To anyone uninitiated with the nature of Spurs’ recent upturn, it might have been thoroughly remarkable that they went in at half-time with the outcome virtually sealed. Leicester had threatened regularly but they could not point to a lack of prior information: the past week had seen Arsenal and Newcastle both dismissed despite outpassing Tottenham and Mourinho was never going to seek all-out control against his latest opponents, who pop the ball around far better than most.

It took only six minutes for his approach to bear fruit again. Leicester had begun to find some rhythm but were quickly picked off and, even if the opener owed plenty to fortune, its conception was outstanding. Kane’s pass to Son Heung-min, delivered with the outside of his right foot from 20 yards inside the Spurs half, was beautifully weighted down the left channel and made an elegant spectacle in conjunction with the Korean’s bent run.

Son had Ryan Bennett for company as he cut inside and his shooting angle improved when the defender stumbled. With a fair wind the resulting effort may or may not have faded inside Schmeichel's left post; in the event, it clipped off the unfortunate Justin and flew the other way, rendering it unsavable. A VAR check ensued, with an offside Kane running across the box as Son let fly, but his intervention was deemed harmless.

The second and third goals were, primarily, evidence of Kane's enduring excellence. But they also formed a harsh lesson for George Thomas, the 19-year-old Leicester wing-back who is deputising for Ben Chilwell. Having performed superbly against Sheffield United, Thomas looked the part for long periods again here, distributing intelligently throughout and providing a genuine attacking menace with his left foot.

But when a clearance from Youri Tielemans’ corner was aimed his way in the 37th minute, his loose touch put Tottenham in their element. They were still 80 yards from the Leicester goal but Giovani Lo Celso and Lucas Moura made light of the distance, eating up the space before the latter found Kane’s diagonal burst with a cute through ball. The finish, rolled left-footed across Schmeichel, was consummate.

Thomas had discovered that, when your opponents are this good, imprecision can cost you anywhere. That had barely sunk in when, near the touchline, he was dispossessed by Moura and Spurs were away again. This time Moura’s pass seemed to have taken Kane slightly wide but it did not matter: he had time to bring the ball back inside and, having done so, curved an exquisite right-foot strike into the far corner. All three goals had arisen from Spurs’ rapid transitions upon winning the ball deep in their own half.

Before the second of them, Schmeichel had saved sharply from Son. But his opposite number was the busier as Leicester probed to offset Justin's misfortune. Hugo Lloris blocked a backheel from Jamie Vardy and then, with a quite exceptional save, plunged low to repel Ayoze Pérez's volley. Thomas had delivered the cross for that chance, and also laid on a sight of goal for Vardy that Toby Alderweireld charged down. Lloris tipped over another Pérez strike before the interval; Leicester had been fairly good but, more pertinently, fatally naive.

The game was up, although Kane's quest for a hat-trick remained alive and it would have arrived early in the second period if Wes Morgan had not been alert. There was little change in the direction of play; just a softer sting to the action. Lloris, at his best here, acrobatically saved a free-kick from the substitute Demarai Gray and held on to a drive from Harvey Barnes.

Leicester were now tied on goal difference with United so it was in their long-term interests to at least reduce the deficit but, after one last Lloris stop from Kelechi Iheanacho, they were left with nothing bar a week to chew over their fate. - Guardian