Son Heung-min and Harry Kane fired Tottenham back to the top of the Premier League on Sunday after Jamie Vardy struck in the final minute to lift Leicester to third in the table.
2 000 FANS WATCHED SPURS BEAT ARSENAL
Jose Mourinho’s men beat faltering Arsenal 2-0 in front of 2 000 vocal fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to leapfrog Chelsea.
Earlier, Leicester beat rock-bottom Sheffield United 2-1 while Crystal Palace hammered struggling West Brom 5-1.
Spurs took the lead in the north London derby in the 13th minute with a Son wonder goal. The South Korean was set free down the left by Kane, cut inside and curled a brilliant long-range effort into the top corner.
The home side doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time as they took apart their local rivals on the break.
Giovani Lo Celso played in Son, who returned the earlier favour to tee up Kane to smash in from close range.
Son and Kane have now combined for 31 Premier League goals, the second most of any pair after Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard (36).
Tottenham, who have not lost a league match since the opening day of the season, now have 24 points after 11 matches, two clear of Chelsea and three in front of Leicester and Liverpool.
Mourinho praised his star forwards for their all-round contribution.
“Harry Kane clearing balls in the box, Sonny for the first 60 minutes as a winger and then a second striker — it is not just about scoring goals and being world-class players,” he told Sky Sports. “It is about being great guys and doing your best for the team.
“We grew up. I can imagine lots of people can imagine three matches in a row — against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal — would be a moment for us to drop points and go back to ‘normality’ but we didn’t go back to ‘normality’. We are there.”
Arsenal, by contrast, are now 15th in the Premier League following their sixth defeat of the season, and struggling badly for goals.
LEICESTER ENDED 4-GAME WINLESS RUN
Leicester ended a four-game winless run in all competitions at an empty Bramall Lane to push the Blades closer to a return to the Championship.
Clubs in tier-three areas of England, with tougher coronavirus restrictions, still have to play behind closed doors, while tier-two zones such as London and Liverpool can have crowds of up to 2,000.
Vardy kept his cool when through one-on-one and beat Aaron Ramsdale with a confident right-foot finish in the 90th minute.
Earlier, Ayoze Perez had put Brendan Rodgers’s men in front before Oli McBurnie headed an equaliser for Sheffield United, who now have just one point from 11 games.
“I thought it was very much deserved,” Rodgers said after the late drama. “We hit the post twice and created other chances and our combination play was good, while defending very well.
“We just need that final pass and it came late in the game and wins us the match, and Jamie Vardy is one of the best in Europe in that position.”
In the first match of the day, Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke both scored twice as Crystal Palace made West Brom pay for Matheus Pereira’s first-half red card in a 5-1 rout at the Hawthorns.
The Eagles had struggled for goals in recent weeks, but with Zaha restored after missing defeats to Burnley and Newcastle due to coronavirus, Palace were a team transformed as they moved to 11th in the table.
