Yet another Harry Kane hat-trick was more than enough for Tottenham Hotspur to ease past Stoke City at White Hart Lane on Sunday afternoon.
Kane scored three in just 23 first-half minutes for his third triple of 2017 as Spurs ripped through Stoke, Dele Alli also on the scoresheet before the break as they beat the Potters 4-0 for the third successive outing.
Kane torments the Potters
This game was over at half-time and it was mainly down to one man, with Spurs striker Harry Kane grabbing his third hat-trick in nine games.
It took just short of quarter-of-an-hour for Kane to break the deadlock after a rather sloppy period of play.
Christian Eriksen got crowded out on the right of Stoke's box, but the ball broke to Kane and he quickly controlled with his right foot and then drilled the ball hard and fast across goal into the bottom left corner out of Stoke goalkeeper Lee Grant's reach for his 100th club career goal.
Then after some near-misses from himself and the team, Kane doubled his and the Spurs side's tally just after the half-hour mark.
Eriksen's low out-swinging corner from the right found its way to Kane on the edge of the box who on the half-volley found the bottom left corner with a left-footed strike.
Kane had to wait just five minutes to complete his treble, with his third goal a little more than fortunate. Eriksen laid off a free-kick from 30 yards out and Kane had a blast into the wall, only for the ball to spin off Bruno Martins Indi's left leg and beat Grant, who dove the other way.
The day's scoring was then complete in the first minute of first-half stoppage-time, with Kane turning provider this time around. The England international flicked the ball around Martins Indi down the right and then charged into the box before unselfishly squaring for Dele Alli, who slid in to make it four.
Could have been worse for the Potters
The first half was so dominated by Spurs to the point it could have been worse than four goals against Stoke at this stage and at the end of the game.
Two great chances came in as many minutes between the first and second goals, as firstly Jan Vertonghen rattled the connection between the right post and crossbar after being left in a ton of space on the left side of the box.
Then just a minute later Kane went close with a drilled right-footed shot from just outside the box which went just inches wide of the right post at top corner height.
Kane and co. threatened even more in the second-half, as Stoke 'keeper Grant did his best to keep the score respectable. One such save was from Kane after 70 minutes, as the striker looked to finish in the same way of his first goal in drilling one across goal from the corner of the box, but this time Grant got a strong hand and tipped it away.
Grant pulled of some more smart saves from Eric Dier and Kyle Walker through the second-half and despite conceding four, Stoke manager Mark Hughes should be grateful to his goalkeeper.
Could it have been different?
Stoke didn't get too many sights on goal throughout the game, but they had one really good chance with the score only at 1-0.
Erik Pieters made a great overlapping run down the left and put in a low cross for Peter Crouch who applied a touch sliding in, but Hugo Lloris somehow got a leg to it to retain Spurs' slender lead at the time.
It would have been controversial if Crouch had scored though, as he was in an offside position from the cross.
The big win for Spurs then puts Mauricio Pochettino's team back into second in the league, 10 points off of London rivals Chelsea at the top, but Arsenal and Manchester City both have games in hand.