AFC Bournemouth 1 - 4 Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs bounce back from European disappointment but Kane suffers injury

Posted Monday, March 12, 2018 by PA

Tottenham climbed to third in the Premier League but lost top scorer Harry Kane to injury as they came from behind to win 4-1 at Bournemouth.

England international Kane limped off with just over half an hour played at the Vitality Stadium after sustaining an ankle problem while scoring an offside goal.

Spurs were 1-0 down at that point, following Junior Stanislas’ early opener, but a Dele Alli goal, Son Heung-min’s brace and Serge Aurier’s late strike turned the game in their favour as they bounced back from their midweek Champions League exit to move above Liverpool in the battle for a top-four finish.

Victory on the south coast stretched Spurs’ unbeaten league run to 12 games, although Kane’s early departure will undoubtedly be at the front of manager Mauricio Pochettino’s mind ahead of next weekend’s important FA Cup quarter-final at Swansea.

The cup represents Tottenham’s only chance of ending their 10-year wait for silverware after they were knocked out of Europe by Serie A champions Juventus on Wednesday.

Whether Kane will be fit enough to be feature in Wales remains to be seen following a fairly innocuous incident in the 29th minute which saw him convert Christian Eriksen’s cross before staying down and clutching his ankle.

Replays showed it was the correct decision to disallow the goal and Kane, who scored six times in his previous four games against Bournemouth, then limped along the touchline before disappearing down the tunnel to be replaced by Erik Lamela.

Spurs were a goal down at that point and it could have been worse.

Forward Stanislas, who had earlier chipped against the crossbar following a clinical Cherries break, quickly made amends by drilling into the bottom right corner in the seventh minute after controlling a right-wing cross from former Tottenham youth player Adam Smith.

It was Bournemouth’s first goal against Tottenham in seven hours and 36 minutes of play – dating back to a Matt Ritchie strike in a 5-1 defeat in October 2015 – but they were unable to build on it.

After an altercation between Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen and a Bournemouth ball boy before a throw-in, the visitors gradually eased their way back into proceedings.

Kane, the division’s joint leading goalscorer with 24, had not long disappeared into the dressing room before Pochettino’s concerns were slightly eased by Alli’s leveller.

Son released Aurier down the right and his pin-point cross allowed England midfielder Alli to convert from close range 10 minutes before the break.

South Korean Son was again in the thick of the action early in the second period.

He saw penalty appeals waved away after going down in the area before putting Spurs ahead in the 62nd minute with a mishit volley from Alli’s cross, which bounced into the ground and looped into the top right corner.

Bournemouth introduced former Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe in their attempts to draw level and they thought they had when Callum Wilson found the net from close range, only for referee Mike Dean to blow for a free-kick to Spurs.

It appeared harsh on Eddie Howe’s men and they were made to pay further as Spurs added two more late on.

Son ran half the length of the pitch, rounded Asmir Begovic and confidently dispatched the third three minutes from time after Eriksen had intercepted a Lewis Cook pass and slotted his team-mate in on goal.

And Ivory Coast full-back Aurier completed the scoring, heading in a rebound from close range after goalkeeper Begovic had tipped away a cross from Spurs substitute Kieran Trippier.