ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Watford 1 Tottenham 4

LONDON • Harry Kane and Dele Alli both scored twice, as Tottenham started the year with a thumping 4-1 Premier League victory over an abysmal Watford yesterday.

It was Spurs' fourth straight league win since they lost 0-1 to Manchester United on Dec 11, and Mauricio Pochettino's side are now level on 39 points with Manchester City.

Watford defender Younes Kaboul, the former Spurs player who had earlier criticised Pochettino for "disrespecting" him, scored the consolation goal in stoppage time.

The Hornets have also now lost five of their past seven matches.

Pochettino was delighted with his team's performance, telling reporters after the match how his players are thoroughly enjoying their football.

"You could see the players enjoying playing football. There were a lot of positive things, but for me, that has a big impact," he said.

"We played very good, to a very high standard. The first half was one of the best we've played this season. I'm very happy because it was a difficult game, and the team responded.

"In three days we have a very important home game against Chelsea. We know that their performance is very high, they are a very good team with high confidence but we will try to challenge them to take the three points."

Tottenham will remember all too well that it was against Chelsea that their title hopes were finally ended last season after a 2-2 draw.

However, Kane will be hoping that Spurs can build on their momentum to stop the Blues from clinching a 14th consecutive league victory.

"The Chelsea match is massive, so we'll recover and go hard at it," said the Englishman. "We just need to go out there and beat them and stop their winning run."

THE GUARDIAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE