It was a Premier League day that could hardly have gone any better for Tottenham.
With a 4-0 win at Aston Villa – inspired by Son Heung-min’s hat trick – and losses for both Arsenal and Manchester United on Saturday, Tottenham became strong favourites to claim the fourth and final Champions League qualification spot.
Antonio Conte’s team are hitting form just as their rivals are imploding and Spurs now have a three-point cushion in fourth place over Arsenal, who slumped 2-1 at home to Brighton for a third loss in four games.
As for United, a 1-0 loss at an Everton team that had been in free fall constituted another low in what has turned into a desperate season.
One, remarkably, that could yet end without qualification for any European competition.
United are in seventh place, six points behind Tottenham and with plenty of traffic between them.
In Son, Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham have an attacking triumvirate who are proving impossible to keep down. They scored and assisted all four goals against Villa.
Son now has six goals in his last three league games, having opened the scoring in the third minute after a shot from Kane deflected into his path at the edge of the area.
His finish was unforgiving, kissing the post on its way in just like his third goal in the 71st minute, off a pass from Kulusevski, which completed his first hat trick of the season.
Two glancing headers from Kane set up the other goals from Kulusevski and Son in the 50th and 66th minutes.
Tottenham and Arsenal meet in their third-to-last matches of the season, respectively. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will just be hoping his team aren’t out of the running by then.
The absences of first-choice left back Kieran Tierney and influential holding midfielder Thomas Partey are proving significant for Arsenal, disrupting the team’s defensive solidity established under Arteta.
Five days after a 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, Arsenal were undone by goals from Leandro Trossard and Enock Mwepu for Brighton, while Martin Odegaard scored an 89th-minute consolation for Arsenal.
“We know with the team we have available the difficult challenge we have ahead, that is for sure,” Arteta said.
“The injuries make the situation more complicated but we are not looking for excuses.”
Anthony Gordon proved Everton’s match winner against United, with his 27th-minute effort deflecting in off the outstretched leg of Harry Maguire.
Interim United manager Ralf Rangnick refused to accept that the search for a new manager to take over for next season is leaving the team in limbo.
“The players themselves should be eager to play international football, if possible Champions League,” the German said.
“But if we play like we did here, we just don’t deserve it.”
The goals flew in at St Mary’s Stadium, where Chelsea consigned Southampton to their latest humiliating defeat.
Having lost matches 9-0 in each of the last two seasons, a similar scoreline looked possible for Southampton when they fell 6-0 down after 54 minutes.
But Chelsea eased up in the final half-hour ahead of a trip to try to rescue their Champions League hopes at Real Madrid on Tuesday.
In the day’s other game, next-to-last Watford lost 3-0 to Leeds and slipped six points from safety.
But Leeds took another giant stride towards top-flight survival after goals from Raphinha, Rodrigo and Jack Harrison stretched their unbeaten run to four games.
© AAP