Tottenham cruised to a 4-0 victory over Leeds at Elland Road, putting the game beyond doubt after half an hour to pile pressure on Marcelo Bielsa.
Matt Doherty opened the scoring after ten minutes tucking home a low cross from Ryan
Sessegnon and the lead was doubled five minutes later when Dejan Kulusevski dribbled in almost from the corner flag to smash an effort into the near post.
Kane latched onto a beautiful chipped pass from Pierre Hojberg and shot home first time with his left foot from a narrow angle in the 27th minute.
Both sides had a number of chances after this point before Son Heung-Min latched onto Harry Kane’s beautiful long ball and slotted home in customary fashion.
Leeds twice went inches from scoring, hitting the post from a Robin Koch effort in the first half and Raphinia’s injury-time free kick but few could argue the four-goal advantage flattered Tottenham.
TALKING POINT
Bielsa has to go – It feels a bit like shooting Bambi. Marcelo Bielsa has given so much to the football club and to the credit of the Leeds fans, it seems few have turned on him. Fourteen goals conceded in a week tells its own tale though (just three fewer than Manchester City let in all last season). The way they are defending, they are liable to concede at least three against any team they face. They are three points clear of third-bottom Burnley who have three games in hand (ahead of their match with Crystal Palace). The loyalty to the legendary Argentine idealogue surely cannot come at the expense of them staying in the top-flight. And their chances of doing so must go up if he leaves the club. It is no surprise to hear former Leipzig boss Jesse Marsch has been linked to taking over at Elland Road.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) – Yes, Leeds’ defence is awful, with the double whammy of giving the England captain time and space to turn and look for a pass combined with a failure to stop players running behind them. But Kane’s performance was incredible. He scored a fine left-footed volley, but this wasn’t in the top five things he did in this match. On multiple occasions he produced quite wonderful passes which, finally, bore fruit when Son Heung-Min notched a late goal. The worries about his career dipping off at the start of the season seem ludicrous now.
PLAYER RATINGS
Leeds: Meslier 7; Ayling 5, Llorente 5, Struijk 5, Firpo 5; Koch 6, Forshaw 5, Dallas 5; Raphinha 7, James 6, Harrison 6.
Subs: Klich 6, Rodrigo 6.
Tottenham: Lloris 6; Romero 6, Dier 6, Davies 6; Doherty 7, Winks 6, Hojbjerg 7, Sessegnon 8; Kulusevski 8, Kane 10*, Son 8.
Subs: Bergwijn 6, Emerson 6, Scarlett 6.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
10′ GOAL FOR SPURS! Doherty slots home after Sessegnon was slid in behind the defence and played a perfect low cross for the ex-Wolves man to slot home.
15′ GOAL FOR SPURS! Fantastic goal from Kulusevski but you have to look at the defence. The transfer window signing was allowed to dribble in from near the corner flag with Firpo, Llorente and Struijk too easy to beat and he then crashed a shot inside the near post.
17′ OFF THE POST! So close to halving the deficit. A driving run from Koch, he got a pass inside the area from Raphinha and his shot beat Lloris but came back off the post.
27′ GOAL FOR SPURS! A fantastic ball form Hojberg dinking over the defence and Kane from a narrow angle squeezes the ball past Meslier and into the far corner.
76′ WHAT A MISS! Lloris came racing out of his goal but his clearance was blocked by Dallas who had an open goal. He took his time, then more time, then finally shot but saw his effort blocked by the sliding challenge from Davies.
85′ GOAL FOR SPURS! Son gets behind the Leeds defence to latch onto another fine ball from Kane and he calmly waits for Meslier to go down before sliding his effort inside the near post.
90+1′ OFF THE POST! A marvellous free kick from Raphinha rocketing over the wall then curling and dipping but just catching the edge of the post.
