Harry Kane scored his seventh and eighth goals in five matches as Tottenham Hotspur dispatched West Ham United 4-1 on Sunday to close on the Premier League's top four. Defenders Toby Alderweireld and Kyle Walker also found the net at a chilly White Hart Lane as Mauricio Pochettino's side equalled the club record of 12 successive Premier League games without defeat.
Spurs now trail third-place Manchester City and fourth-place Arsenal by just two points and look ideally placed for an assault on the Champions League berths ahead of next weekend's home game with spluttering champions Chelsea, who will not relish the trip to north London.
The only disappointment for Pochettino was the booking collected by rising star Dele Alli following a shoving match with Mark Noble, which rules the England newcomer out of the Chelsea game.
It was only a second defeat in 10 league games for Slaven Bilic's West Ham, who replied late on through Manuel Lanzini, and left them three points adrift of Spurs in sixth place.
The visitors badly missed injured playmaker Dimitri Payet, whose place was taken by Diafra Sakho in West Ham's only change.
Bilic strung his midfielders across the pitch in a 4-1-4-1 system, with Sakho wide on the right, in an attempt to stop Spurs' centre-backs sliding passes into the feet of Alli, Christian Eriksen and the fit-again Son Heung-Min, who replaced the suspended Erik Lamela.
Victor Moses gave Spurs early concern by skipping past Mousa Dembele and crossing from the left, but Spurs looked in control and after Eriksen had warmed Adrian's palms from range, they took a 23rd-minute lead.