At a stroke - Harry's back!
I wouldn't say it was "At the third stroke", nor would I suggest that Harry Kane's first goal on Sunday (the penalty) signified his return to form, but perhaps we can agree that his second goal, created by Christian Eriksen's excellent ball, truly signalled the return to form of our solitary striker.
Of course, goalkeeper Artur Boruc made a significant contribution to the margin of Spurs' victory (confirmed as the best away Premier league win since Hull in August, 2009), but Harry still had to get up and score his penalty at a time when his confidence might have been low. Plenty of established stars have failed from the spot, and there will be times when that happens to Harry, but he hit the net and never looked back, getting the assist for Lamela's goal, before scoring his two second half goals. Harry's third came after another Boruc error, after he failed to hold Alderweireld's header, but Harry timed his run and got the vital touch with his out-stretched right foot when Eriksen delicately lifted a ball over the defence for his second and Spurs' fourth goal.
This was Kane's third hat-trick for Spurs in almost excactly one year, and his second Premier League hat-trick. On October 23rd last year, Kane had yet to score his first Premier League goal of the season, but he scored three of our five goals at home to Asteras Tripolis. He never looked back after that, and got his first Premier League hat-trick in the 4-3 home win over Leicester in March. Harry has now scored 20 goals so far in this calendar year, which is more than Aguero, Vardy and Sanchez, who are the other top league scorers during that period. I'll admit I was beginning to lose faith in Kane, especially after his misses in Anderlecht, but Mauricio Pochettino kept his faith and has described Harry's barren spell as perhaps one of the most important periods (and lessons) of his still fledgling career. What do we fans know, eh?
You won't be surprised to learn that Harry won your man of the match vote, but Christian Eriksen also scored highly, with grades of seven or more also given to Dier, Dembele and Alderweireld.
All this positivity has to be balanced against a poor goalkeeping/defensive performaance by Bournemouth, but Spurs did take full advantage and now have 6 more days before their next game against an Aston Villa team still looking for a coach at the time of writing.
This week's Norman Giller piece highlighted the difficult month ahead, making the fair point that we will be able to judge better the true standing of our team this season at the end of November. However, let's enjoy our current position; the struggles of Chelsea and their indisciplined manager, and the fact that we remain unbeaten in the Premier League since Day One of the season, as long ago as August 8th.
· In match 10 last year, Harry Kane scored his first Premier League goal of the season. That was on November 2nd, against Aston Villa, who we play next Monday November 2nd!
We are also three points and two places better off than we were at this stage last year. Chelsea are 15 points and 14 places worse off!
· See the spursometer for the Bournemouth game in full here.
Results 24-25.10.15
A. Villa 1-2 Swansea
Leicester 1-0 C. Palace
Norwich 0-1 West Brom
Stoke 0-2 Watford
West Ham 2-1 Chelsea
Arsenal 2-1 Everton
S'derland 3-0 Newcastle
B'mouth 1-5 Spurs
Man Utd 0-0 Man City
Liverpool 1-1 S'hampton
Barclays Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 10 7 1 2 24-8 16 22
2. Arsenal 10 7 1 2 18-8 10 22
3. West Ham 10 6 2 2 22-13 9 20
4. Man Utd 10 6 2 2 15-8 7 20
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5. Leicester 10 5 4 1 20-17 3 19
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6. Spurs 10 4 5 1 16-8 8 17
7. C. Palace 10 5 0 5 12-11 1 15
8. S'hampton 10 3 5 2 16-13 3 14
9. Liverpool 10 3 5 2 9-11 -2 14
10. West Brom 10 4 2 4 8-11 -3 14
11. Everton 10 3 3 3 13-13 0 13
12. Swansea 10 3 4 3 12-12 0 13
13. Watford 10 3 4 3 8-10 -2 13
14. Stoke 10 3 3 4 9-12 -3 12
15. Chelsea 10 3 2 5 15-19 -4 11
16. Norwich 10 2 3 4 14-21 -7 9
17. B'mouth 10 2 2 6 12-22 -10 8
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18. S'derland 10 1 3 6 11-19 -8 6
19. Newcastle 10 1 3 6 12-22 -10 6
20. A. Villa 10 1 1 8 9-17 -8 4
