Tottenham put six goals past Everton to seal a thrilling 6-2 victory at Goodison Park and strengthen their claim as genuine title contenders.
In a stunning attacking display, all four of Mauricio Pochettino’s forwards were on target, with doubles for Heung-min Son and Harry Kane complimented by goals from Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen.
Everton also played their part in the Premier League’s highest-scoring fixture of the season so far, with Theo Walcott briefly giving the Toffees the lead and Gylfi Sigurdsson netting against his former club.
But Spurs’ utter ruthlessness rendered those goals irrelevant as the north Londoners cruised to a fourth consecutive league victory and consolidated third place ahead of Christmas Day.
They now sit just two points adrift of second-place Manchester City and six behind league-leaders Liverpool.
Everton took the lead against the run of play when Calvert-Lewin, who outpaced Trippier, cut back for Walcott to drive home, ending a sequence of 14 league appearances without a goal – his worst run since he made his league debut in 2006.
And the hosts felt they should have had a second when Calvert-Lewin’s twisting header was ruled out for the striker’s barely-there push on Davinson Sanchez.
It was downhill from there as Spurs made their superiority count, their comeback kick-started by an absolute gift from their hosts.
Zouma, preferred to Yerry Mina but who looked shaky all game, and Pickford got in each others’ way trying to deal with Kane’s hopeful clip forward and Son capitalised on the loose ball by impressively firing home from a tight angle.
It was Pickford’s third error leading to a goal, the joint worst in the league, and things got no better for the England number one when he parried Son’s shot straight out to Alli who rammed the rebound home past the keeper’s left foot.
There was plenty more pain to come for an increasingly frustrated Pickford when Trippier’s free-kick narrowly beat him and rebounded back off a post, with Kane quickest to react three minutes before half-time.
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Source: talkSPORT