Tottenham Hotspur have brushed aside strugglers Hull City 3-0 at White Hart Lane to return to winning ways in the Premier League.
Christian Eriksen scored twice and played a part in the third, helping the Lilywhites to put their run of two defeats in three behind them on what turned out to be a comfortable night.
Spurs remain fifth in the table due to the sides above them also picking up maximum points this evening, while Hull find themselves three points from safety on the back of another disappointing defeat.
Hull, again going with a five-at-the-back system this evening, were offering Spurs far too much space to attack in the final third early on and probably should have fallen behind earlier than they did.
Dele Alli's movement in particular was causing problems, and it was his lay-off to Moussa Sissoko - preferred to Son Heung-min - which provided the first shot on target.
Spurs did not have to wait too long to make the breakthrough, though, as Eriksen maintained his impressive run in front of goal when blasting the ball into the roof of the net after being picked out by Danny Rose.
David Marshall was called upon to keep out Alli's shot two minutes later, in an opening 30 minutes completely dominated by the top-four chasing home side.
Hull did manage to grow into things a little more as the first half transpired, however, and from pretty much nowhere Jake Livermore tested Hugo Lloris at his front post and Ahmed Elmohamady also sent in a shot from distance that was easily dealt with.
That spell on top was short lived and City's weak backline was again exposed 40 minutes in when Alli simply got in between Elmohamady and Harry Maguire, took a touch to bring a long ball under control and sent a shot down low for Marshall to push aside.
There was still time for Harry Kane to send an effort wide when failing to adjust to Sissoko's blasted cross, while an unlikely source in Jan Vertonghen also drifted forward but was also unable to get the ball out of his feet when near the opposition goal.
Mike Phelan's men were giving a good account of themselves in the early stages of the second half, starting things on top and winning a couple of corners in succession which ultimately came to little.
Spurs midfielder Victor Wanyama tested Marshall with a rare shot on goal following some nice interplay, but shots and chances were proving to be hard to come by at White Hart Lane, where Spurs have still yet to lose in the league this term.
A big moment in the contest arrived on the hour mark, with Eriksen seeing a penalty appeal waved away when shoved off the ball, allowing Hull to break and former Tottenham midfielder Livermore to be denied only by a superb Lloris stop.
Just when the Tigers were starting to sense that they could perhaps nick an unlikely point in their relegation battle, the hosts scored the killer second through Eriksen, who this time profited from close range thanks to some positive play from Kyle Walker down the opposite flank to the first.
Walker was clearly boosted by that assist, with his shot dipping awkwardly in front of Marshall from the next attacking move, yet the points were well and truly sealed via Wanyama's tap-in in the final quarter of the match.
Eriksen saw his hopes of a hat-trick dented by a fine Marshall save, with the ball coming back off the post and landing in the perfect place for Wanyama to bag himself a rare goal against the worst defensive side in Europe's top five leagues.
It was proving to be a running battle between Eriksen and Marshall for that treble - the Scotsman again thwarting his opponent from a long-distance strike to ensure that the game finished with just the three goals for Spurs.
No Data Analysis info
