Analysis: Spurs breeze past Southampton as Kane smashes Shearer's record

Tottenham temporarily climbed back into the top four following an impressive 5-2 victory over the out of form Southampton.

It was a day where all the focus was on Spurs' main man, with Harry Kane needing just the one goal to surpass Alan Shearer's record of 36 Premier League goals in one calender year.

Record breaker

Kane not only smashed Shearer's record, he also beat Lionel Messi's tally of 54 goals in 2017.

The English talisman set himself up nicely to at least match Shearer's goal tally of 36 after his seventh hat trick of the year against Burnley.

It took Kane just 22 minutes to open the scoring as he latched onto a fierce free-kick by Christian Eriksen.

His second was one of the easiest finishes he will get all season, the credit fell down to the build-up play from Dele Alli and Heung-min Son.

However, his final goal which marked his eighth of the year showed his incredible ability as he chipped Fraser Forster with his weak foot - making it a perfect hat-trick.

In the last few seasons, Kane has proved the league's most feared finisher.

Now he can be called Europe's most feared finisher as he surpasses the goalscoring tally of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.

Dele back to his best

So far this season Dele Alli has not quite hit the heights of his previous two campaigns.

With a lot of criticism going his way after a poor tackle in the game against Manchester City, Alli hinted a return to his fine form against the Saints.

From the start he looked lively, beginning the move for Kane's second with a great through ball to Son.

He finally got a much-needed goal in the. 49th minute. From outside the box he simply stroked the ball past Forster who did not stand a chance.

A glimpse of the class act that has established himself as one of Europe's hottest talents.

He capped off a great performance by setting up Kane for his hat-trick, a neat through ball which Kane finished off in style.

Sloppy from Lloris

An all-round great performance from the Lilywhite's was slightly tarnished by some poor goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris on his birthday.

The 31-year-old misjudged the flight of a header back from defender Danny Rose which the Frenchman only just stopped from going in his own net.

Sofiane Boufal's goal summed up a pretty poor afternoon from the Spurs captain, the Morrocan's shot proved too powerful for the goalkeeper to save at his near post.

He did pull off a fine save preventing Southampton from narrowing the deficit any more but then failed to deal with a later corner allowing the visitors to grab their second.