English forward Harry Kane was in terrific form Monday as he scored a brace in Tottenham Hotspur's 5-0 thrashing of an Everton side that is now dangerously close to the Premier League relegation zone.
Michael Keane's calamitous own goal began the rout in the 14th minute and Son Heung-min made it 2-0 before Kane slotted home his first of the evening to make it 3-0.
Halftime substitute Sergio Reguilon made it 4-0 with his first touch of the game and Kane's sumptuous volley completed a thoroughly miserable trip to the capital for Everton.
Tottenham has now scored nine goals without reply in its last two league games and is level on 45 points with sixth-placed West Ham United having played two games less.
Everton's seventh loss in eight league games left it one place and one point above the bottom three and manager Frank Lampard faces a big task to ensure top-flight survival.
While Tottenham played fluently in its biggest home league win since 2019, Everton was woeful. Tottenham fans enjoyed taunting former Chelsea great Lampard, who took charge at the end of January in the wake of Rafa Benitez's sacking.
Disorganized in defense, lacking bite in midfield and nonexistent up front where it did not even manage an attempt on target, Everton made life easy for Tottenham who is now only three points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, albeit having played a game more.
Everton actually started the game confidently but when Keane, under pressure from Kane, volleyed Ryan Sessegnon's cross past Jordan Pickford the visiting side disintegrated.
Three minutes later Kane found Dejan Kulusevski who in turn released Son who netted with a shot Pickford might have saved.
Son wasted another glorious chance soon after before Matt Doherty's perfectly weighted through ball sent Kane clear on goal and the England skipper was never going to miss.
If Lampard had harsh words at halftime it had no effect on his players who switched off immediately after the interval as Kulusevski slid a ball across the area for Reguilon to slot in.
Kane's second, in the 55th minute, was the pick of the bunch and took him to sixth on the all-time Premier League scoring list above Thierry Henry with 176 goals.
Watching Doherty's lofted diagonal ball like a hawk, he let the ball drop over his shoulder before volleying home past his England teammate Pickford who endured a miserable birthday.
"The top four has to be our ambition. We are not the finished article yet but the manager has had time to settle in and physically, I think we are in a really good position," he said.
"We are in there and in the mix and we have to feel that pressure if we want to be a top team."