Tottenham analysis: Harry Kane is unstoppable - but even Diego Maradona would have worried Liverpool today

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Tom Collomosse22 October 2017

Harry Kane scored twice as Tottenham dismantled a defensively deficient Liverpool to win 4-1 Sunday at Wembley Stadium in front of a record Premier League attendance of 80,827.

The only blot on a fourth successive league victory for Tottenham was Kane trudging off with a left hamstring problem after taking his tally for his club and England to 17 goals in 13 games.

With Heung-min Son and Dele Alli also scoring, Liverpool has now conceded 16 goals in nine league games - its worst start in 53 years - to put the brakes on Jurgen Klopp's title aspirations.

Tom Collomosse analyses the key talking points at Wembley...

Maradona would have worried Liverpool

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As an official guest of Tottenham, Diego Maradona watched from the stands at Wembley and appeared on the pitch at half-time alongside his friend and former international team-mate Ossie Ardiles.

Yet when he saw the way Liverpool defended, Maradona, who turns 57 on October 30, probably fancied his chances of doing a bit of damage on the pitch.

Jurgen Klopp’s team have struggled in defence all season but they fell to new depths here, with Dejan Lovren taken off after just 30 minutes following two basic mistakes for Tottenham’s first two goals.

Perhaps Lovren was injured but if so, why was he playing? In any case, Liverpool’s display at the back got no better after he was taken off, and they are now 12 points behind league leaders Manchester City.

Kane breaks league duck at Wembley

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Before this game, all six of Harry Kane’s league goals this season had come away from home. The England forward had taken 28 shots in Premier League fixtures at the national stadium, failing to find the net with any of them.

Yet forwards of Kane’s class do not suffer such droughts for very long. He needed only four minutes to put Spurs in front here, as he profited from Lovren’s error to run on to Kieran Trippier’s clipped pass, cut in from the right and guide past Simon Mignolet with his left foot.

Early in the second half, Kane wrapped it up, reacting quickest after Roberto Firmino had blocked Jan Vertonghen’s goalbound shot. Who can stop him?

Alderweireld completes his century

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This was Toby Alderweireld’s 100th game for Tottenham and he performed as he did in most of the previous 99 - with confidence, class and composure.

Although Alderweireld’s form during the early part of this season has not been as impressive as in the previous two, he appears to have recovered in the last two matches, producing excellent displays against Real Madrid and Liverpool.

With Vertonghen also at the top of his game, the pair have given record signing Davinson Sanchez the perfect platform to settle into a new team. There is one sticking point, though: Alderweireld seems no closer to signing a new deal with Spurs, with his current contract running until 2019, including an option for a further year.

The longer the stalemate lasts, the more rival clubs will believe they can steal the 28-year-old.

Flexible full-backs

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When Kieran Trippier and Serge Aurier played together in Tottenham’s Champions League victory at APOEL Nicosia last month, Trippier was on the left and Aurier on the right.

Here, they switched sides, with the quicker Aurier asked to contain Liverpool’s fastest player, Mohamed Salah. While Salah scored and found his way past Aurier on a number of occasions, Trippier had a superb game on the other flank, making the first goal for Kane, attacking with purpose and limiting the influence of Liverpool’s chief creator Philippe Coutinho.

Kyle Walker was a significant loss to Tottenham but a possible £50million for a player who wanted to leave was a good deal, especially with Trippier still at the club and Aurier arriving for £23m.

With left-backs Ben Davies and Danny Rose also available again, the future looks bright.