Tottenham Hotspur moved into 2nd place in the Premier League table after a rousing 5-0 victory against Eddie Howe's Bournemouth at Wembley.
A double from Heung-Min Son and goals from Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane and Lucas Moura gave Spurs a comfortable win against the Cherries.
Story of the game
Both sides made an energetic start to the game and it was an excellent end to end football, right from minute one.
The first real chance of the game did fall to Bournemouth, as David Brooks wriggled his way into the Spurs box but his chip was not high enough to beat Hugo Lloris.
Spurs’ first real chance of the game ends in a goal with a huge stroke of luck attached to it. Eriksen had a pop at goal from just outside the box and it took a wicked deflection off of Jefferson Lerma and goes past Asmir Begovic.
It wasn't long before Spurs doubled their lead, as in the 23rd minute, the ball was poked across the top of the Cherries box to Son. Even though he had several Bournemouth defenders around him, the South Korean coolly placed it past Begovic.
Tottenham went on to dominate the remainder of the first half. They added a third 10 minutes before the break when Kyle Walker-Peters put in a superb driven cross which found Moura who dutifully put it in the net.
Bournemouth did have a couple of half chances in the dying embers of the first half. Junior Stanislas first put in a low cross which just evaded Callum Wilson and then Ryan Fraser's cross was met by Stanislas but his effort was easily caught by Lloris.
There was a bitter blow for Bournemouth in added time of the first half as their captain Simon Francis was stretchered off the field with a worrying injury.
The Cherries were able to squeeze in one last chance before half-time when Fraser was able to pick out Charlie Daniels in the box but his header produced a superb save from Lloris.
The second half started much like the first with both sides looking dangerous on the break, but Bournemouth looked determined to find a way back into this contest.
The Cherries thought they did have a goal back when Fraser found Stanislas again in the 53rd minute. The Englishman found the net but it was ruled out for offside.
Bournemouth were enjoying much more of the ball in the second half and at points were playing some beautiful one-touch football.
Spurs did get a fourth however in the 61st minute, when Eriksen played a beautiful chipped through ball to Kane who buried it on the half-volley past Begovic, to really hammer home Spurs' advantage.
Bournemouth had a golden chance to get one back when the ball fell kindly to Stanislas in the Spurs box but his shot was blocked magnificently by Danny Rose.
Spurs made it 5-0, in the 70th minute. After some great play by Kane down the left he cut inside and he laid it to Rose whose shot was well saved, then the ball was cleared to Moura whose shot was also saved and at the third attempt, Son picked it up and calmly slotted it into the gaping net.
Bournemouth almost grabbed a consolation goal from Daniels when he hit a venomous volley from just outside of the Spurs box but it went just wide of Lloris' left hand upright.
Spurs saw out the closing stages of the game and registered their fifth consecutive win in the Premier League and in doing so jumped ahead of Manchester City into 2nd place.
Takeaways from the game
Spurs are real title contenders
After hammering Everton on Sunday, the true test of Spurs' credentials was to see how they would follow it up. They did start a little slow and were fortunate to take the lead through Eriksen, but they never really looked in danger of losing here. At points, Spurs looked untouchable and they took Bournemouth apart and it could have been a lot worse than the scoreline showed. Manchester City and Liverpool play each other in a little over a week which will hopefully see Spurs close the gap on the leaders, and it could also mean we have more of an open title race than was originally predicted.
No Signings, No Problem
Many predicted Spurs to have a rough season, due to their lack of business in the summer and the fact that their new home is still unfinished, but Tottenham are proving everyone wrong. Tottenham are now a five-match winning run and look formidable. Every single one of the Tottenham players played out of their skin today and are showing why Mauricio Pochettino had such faith not to bring in anyone new.
Spurs struggles for Bournemouth
Bournemouth's struggles against the top six continued today and they really were outclassed in every department. The Cherries are also on a woeful run against Tottenham. Since their promotion to the Premier League, Bournemouth have lost all but one of their fixtures against the North London side and have failed to score a goal against Spurs since 2015. Bournemouth did have spells when they played some excellent football and did have some great chances but they really could not make a single one of these count. Hopefully, when these sides meet in May, Bournemouth's fortunes can improve.
Man of the Match
Kyle Walker-Peters-
There were many candidates on the Tottenham side for who could have been the man of the match. The honourable mentions include Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko, who bossed the midfield or Son who popped up with another two goals today, but this time it goes to the young full-back Kyle Walker-Peters. Coming in for Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker-Peters had possibly the game of his life against Bournemouth. Never looked fazed defensively, even against the Cherries' pacey wingers. Going forward Walker-Peters, was unbelievable. The youngster set up all three of Tottenham's first-half strikes. Pochettino has real selection dilemma on his hands at right back when Wolves visit Wembley in three days.