Boxing Day brilliance against Bournemouth!

Another Boxing Day bonanza saw us produce a five-star performance to blitz Bournemouth at Wembley Stadium and climb up to second place in the Premier League table.

On this day last year we went nap against Southampton at the national stadium with a 5-2 win and were in scintillating form once again this time around, continuing where we left off after our 6-2 success at Everton four days ago.

Christian Eriksen set us on our way with a deflected opener on 16 minutes, Heung-Min Son made it 2-0 before Lucas Moura rounded off a wonderful team move to put us in command at the interval. Harry Kane’s 12th league goal of the campaign just after the hour mark extended our advantage while Son tapped home from close range to round off an excellent afternoon’s work.

It was actually quite a low-key opening with the first opportunity falling to Bournemouth in the 13th minute, Ryan Fraser and Junior Stanislas getting in each other’s way at the back post allowing Hugo Lloris to gather. And seconds later, Jefferson Lerma’s clip over the top found David Brooks but he couldn’t stretch enough to lift the ball over Lloris.

Three minutes later we were ahead as we clicked into gear. A quick move through the lines saw Moussa Sissoko and Kane combine to work the ball wide to Kyle Walker-Peters, he played it in-field to Eriksen whose left-foot shot took a big deflection off Lerma, wrong-footed Asmir Begovic and nestled in the back of the net. It was 2-0 on 23 minutes after Walker-Peters nicked the ball away from former Spur Charlie Daniels in the left-back slot and poked it through to Son who took one touch and drilled past Begovic from 20 yards.

The two-goal cushion meant we could play with more freedom and never was that more evident than for our third goal 10 minutes before the break. It was wonderful in its creation, a patient build-up with plenty of passes ending with Harry Winks lofting a superb pass over Daniels to Walker-Peters and his excellent cut-back was dispatched clinically by Lucas from 15 yards. That was a third assist on the day for the young full-back.

Although rocked on their heels by the three-goal blitz, the Cherries then enjoyed their best spell of the half. Stanislas brought a save out of Lloris at his near post, Bournemouth’s first shot on target in the 39th minute. Then Fraser’s cross was met well by Stanislas but it was straight at Lloris, before the skipper produced a fine save in stoppage time to keep out Daniels’ header.

The visitors had the ball in the net early in the second half, but Stanislas’ effort was ruled out for off-side while Kane sent a 30-yard free-kick straight down the throat of Begovic on 57 minutes. But the England international wasn’t to be denied four minutes later, sweeping home Eriksen’s perfect pass from the angle of the six-yard box. There was a real determination to preserve the clean sheet and we needed to stay defensively solid as the Cherries never gave up, almost finding an opening when the ball fell to Stanislas 10 yards out but Danny Rose came across from left to right to block his effort inside the six yard box.

Instead we added a fifth – eventually! Kane burst past Nathan Ake down the left and was in on goal, stumbled as he went to shoot but was able to get up and lay it back to Lucas on the edge of the area. His drive was saved and then spilled by Begovic, allowing Son to snaffle up the rebound and prod it into an empty net. The result was never in doubt but Bournemouth kept plugging away and we survived a couple of near-misses towards the end. Ultimately though, it was a job well done and, with Manchester City losing at Leicester City, we moved into second in the table.

Key moment

There could certainly be a case for the opening goal to be key as it paved the way for the comprehensive victory, but the moment of the match would have to be our outstanding third goal.

Seven players were involved in the move as we kept the ball for a good spell, waiting for the gap to appear. When it did, Winks found Walker-Peters with a superb pass who, in turn, provided the perfect assist for Lucas to slam home.

Mauricio's view

Coming off the back of our 6-2 win at Everton on Sunday, Mauricio Pochettino was pleased with the way we approached the game.

"I’m very happy. We had one day less to prepare for the game and the condition we arrived in made us very happy," he said. "We showed unbelievable energy and then the quality we have... we are playing with very good quality and to keep the momentum is so important for us.

"We were clinical, we had patience and we did our job in the way we needed to. For different periods we played very good football and the players (should) take big praise."

Eriksen spoke about the importance of his opening goal, which took a deflection on its way past Begovic and gave us lift-off.

"It’s always nice to know that you will score at some point," he said. "With the players we have, someone will score at any point, even in the first 10 minutes not playing as well as we could and still scoring and leading - that gives you the confidence and the trust in your team that you can sit back, be professional, be focused and that you will win the game."

Reaction on Spurs TV

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Eriksen 16, Son 23, 70, Lucas 35, Kane 61.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Son, Winks; Bournemouth - Lerma.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh.

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London.

Weather: Light cloud, light winds, nine degrees.

Attendance: 45,154.