Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Stoke City 5-1 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon to end a four-game run without a win.
Harry Kane scored a brace after a Ryan Shawcross own goal and Heung-min Son's strike, while Christian Eriksen added a fifth, but how did Mauricio Pochettino's players fare?
Back-line solid despite no clean sheet
Hugo Lloris - 6: The Frenchman had a quiet game but he was forced into one superb stop at full stretch to deny Xherdan Shaqiri from close range in the second half. The finger will be pointed towards the Spurs captain concerning the late consolation goal that Stoke scored, with Lloris committing himself to catching the ball. The outswinging cross left the Frenchman well out of his goal, leaving the net open for Shawcross to score a goal at the right end this time.
Kieran Trippier - 7: Trippier’s crosses from the right side of the wide Wembley pitch were effective in Spurs’ attacking efforts, also causing many defensive issues for Stoke. His defending was also of good quality, cancelling out the threat posed by Shaqiri and Ramadan Sobhi as Stoke constantly swapped their wingers.
Eric Dier - 7: Playing consistently in midfield and then switching to defence would be a tough task for most players, however Dier portrayed his composure and compatibility when up against a variety of different threats from Stoke. Shaqiri's main threat was his pace when running at the defence, and Peter Crouch - who came on as a substitute - posed an aerial threat, however Dier proved himself capable of handling all of those challenges with confidence, allowing Stoke no space to attack.
Jan Vertonghen - 7: The Belgian had a fairly solid game as part of a back four, not allowing the Stoke attack to get in behind the defence. The vice-captain put in a good defensive performance, intercepting many through balls into the path of danger man Shaqiri.
Ben Davies - 7: Davies had a good game, blocking crosses from the wings delivered by Shaqiri whilst also managing to attack at moments in the game. Comparing the two full-backs, Trippier arguably put in a better performance than Davies, however the deciding factor would be due to their attacking intentions. Davies did get up the pitch quite often even but his crosses weren’t always accurate, allowing Stoke to regularly regain possession.
Harry Winks - 7: After playing on Wednesday, Winks looked slightly below his usual standard, however his performance did improve throughout the game. Winks started the game by constantly losing possession and getting pushed off of the ball by Stoke's midfield. As the game went on and Stoke began to open up Winks had more joy in midfield, picking out some pinpoint passes. As well as this, Winks applied his own pressure on the Stoke midfield, managing to regain possession for Spurs on numerous occasions.
Moussa Dembélé - 8: The Belgian powerhouse had a solid game in the centre of midfield, driving the ball up the pitch. Not only was Dembélé a prime attacking force, he was also a useful defensive player for Spurs, using his strength to regain possession and kickstart many a counter attack. He also had a good shot in the first half from the edge of the box, with the ball bouncing up into Jack Butland to force a reaction save.
Son the stand-out Spurs performer
Heung-Min Son - 9: After a confident performance in Wednesday’s Champions League fixture against APOEL, the Korean continued his good run of form with a Man of the Match performance against Stoke. The fact that Son is capable of using both his left and right foot effectively caused devastation to the Stoke defence, stretching them with the width that he supplied. Son was influential in the opening goal of the game, an own goal from Shawcross, as it was his drilled ball into the box from the left-hand side which forced the awkward touch from the Stoke captain. Son’s goal came in the second half when his run into the box and curled effort into the bottom corner beyond Butland helped to double Spurs’ lead.
Dele Alli - 6: The Englishman - who is on a bad run of form lately - didn’t have the best of games against Stoke. Although Dele did provide an assist in the game with a well-timed through ball, he was largely ineffective, particularly in the first half. He eventually got substituted for Erik Lamela just after the hour mark. The majority of his passes and runs in the game lacked precision and quality.
Christian Eriksen - 8: Eriksen marked his 200th appearance in a Spurs shirt with a goal at Wembley. He was a threat to Stoke when running at their defence with players such as Kane and Son making runs either side of him. Eriksen is fundamental to this team, the way in which the full backs switch the play from left to right constantly requires Eriksen to be in the centre of this play. This style of play opens teams up and creates spaces for the likes of Alli and Son to move into.
Harry Kane - 8: With his sights set on the Golden Boot, Kane would be happy to have bagged a brace against Stoke, however his first half chances will end up leaving him frustrated. Kane had two chances to score Spurs’ second goal in the first half, one snapshot header just wide of the post and the other a low hit one-on-one that he failed to hit the target with. His first goal of the game was a header hit into the ground, bouncing past Butland in the Stoke goal, a great piece of skill shown by Kane. His second goal was Spurs’ fourth of the game, Son leaving the ball on the edge of the area for Kane to curl into the bottom corner of the net, past the goalkeeper who was at full stretch. He is now on 50 for 2017 and continues to impress.