Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen scored within 11 seconds on Wednesday to overshadow Alexis Sanchez’s Premier League debut for Manchester United, while Chelsea crashed to a 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City ignored the carnage around them to march serenely on, widening their lead to an enormous 15 points with a 3-0 victory at home to West Brom with just 13 games still to play.

The build-up to Wednesday’s matches was dominated by late moves in the transfer window but Spurs ensured the focus switched back to the pitch immediately, stunning Jose Mourinho’s men with a performance full of attacking verve in a 2-0 win.

Chelsea, who earlier announced the signing of Olivier Giroud from Arsenal, conceded three second-half goals while Theo Walcott scored twice for his new club Everton in a 2-1 win against Leicester.

“We always try to be aggressive from the beginning,” said delighted Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino. “Our aim is to be focused from the beginning. You can win a game if you’re ready to fight. It was massive to be up early in the game.

“Three more points puts us in a very good position to fight for the top four. I’m sure new signing Lucas Moura enjoyed that a lot.”

The painful defeat for United realistically ends any lingering hopes they may have harboured of catching runaway leaders City.

Mourinho signed Sanchez this month to bolster his attacking options but Spurs caught the visitors cold at a packed Wembley, Eriksen opening the scoring from the kick-off following a long ball from inside the Tottenham half.

The goal, timed at 10.48 seconds, was the first United have conceded in 2018 but despite some bright moments of their own they were 2-0 down just before the half-hour after Phil Jones lashed the ball into his own net.

Tottenham, who announced the signing of Moura from Paris Saint-Germain shortly before kick-off, were a constant threat and had multiple chances to stretch their lead.

Mourinho threw on Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini in the 63rd minute but bizarrely took Fellaini off just seven minutes later, replacing him with Ander Herrera. The Belgium international took off his shirt and marched straight down the tunnel.

The impressive win for Spurs puts them right back at the heart of the hunt for a Champions League qualification spot, just two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

“It’s a performance that starts with a ridiculous goal,” said Mourinho. “That goal after a few seconds has a big influence in the game because Tottenham can play the way they like to play.

“In the end we played against a very good team. Both goals were ridiculous goals.”

– Chelsea defeat –

He said the signing of Giroud would not necessarily solve the club’s problems in front of goal.

“In the past with a striker we have chances and still don’t score,” he said. “I think now is not the right moment to speak of the transfer market for me. It’s not important, it’s important to work and do best with my players.”

It was business as usual for Guardiola’s City, who handed a debut to £57-million-pound ($80 million, 65 million euros) defender Aymeric Laporte, who only signed for the club from Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday.

City struck through Fernandinho midway through the first half and doubled their lead through Kevin De Bruyne in the second half before Sergio Aguero struck late on.

City earlier opted out of a bid for Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez, with reports putting the transfer package at £95 million, after ending their chase of Sanchez earlier in the transfer window, due to slam shut at 2300 GMT.

In other big-money moves on Wednesday, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sealed a move to Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund for a club-record fee of around £56 million.

In other results on Wednesday, Newcastle drew 1-1 with Burnley, Southampton drew 1-1 at home to Brighton and Stoke were involved in a goalless stalemate with Watford.

On Tuesday, Swansea shocked Arsenal 3-1 while Liverpool beat Huddersfield 3-0 and West Ham drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace.

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Kane had Alan Shearer’s Premier League mark for a calendar year in his sights and he duly overhauled it. Shearer scored 36 times for Blackburn Rovers in 1995; Kane has finished the year with 39 and he did it from 36 matches. Shearer took 42.

Even better for Kane is that he now stands as Europe’s leading scorer from 2017 – ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, the player that he one day hopes to supplant as the best in the world. Messi has 54 goals from 63 appearances in all competitions. For Kane, it is 56 from 52.

It was an occasion when the atmosphere was slightly subdued, despite the excellence on display, and it was easy to imagine the bloated insides and fuzzy heads in the stands. Kane’s clarity of purpose shone brightly. He opened up with a header before dispatching two left-footed efforts and he is now the top scorer in this season’s Premier League with 18. Nobody would bet against him adding a third consecutive Golden Boot.

It was a miserable 90 minutes for Southampton and their manager, Mauricio Pellegrino, who heard chants from the travelling support about him being sacked in the morning. Once again he started without Virgil van Dijk in his squad – it seems inevitable the defender will get the move he has pushed for in January – and it is now seven games without a win for the club.

Pellegrino’s team were dreadful in the first half but at least they kept fighting when the game was over at 4-0. Sofiane Boufal got their first consolation goal when he beat Hugo Lloris for power at his near post, while Dusan Tadic scored the second after further uncertainty from the Tottenham goalkeeper. Pellegrino said the bad period would show him “how people really are – who are the players that want to fight 100% for the club”.

Dele Alli was impressive for Spurs, scoring one, setting up two and having a prominent role in another, while Son Heung-min also got himself on the scoresheet. But this was a game that was all about one man.

Kane could and should have had more. He touched wide from Christian Eriksen’s low cross on six minutes but he did not have to wait long for the goal that took him past Shearer and level with Messi. The opportunity might have come from the penalty spot but Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s foul on Danny Rose was just outside the area on the left-hand side. When Eriksen stood over the free-kick the alarm bells continued to sound for Southampton.

The delivery was superb, bent into the corridor between goalkeeper and backline, although it was still easy to wince at the marking. Kane was more than a yard in behind Wesley Hoedt and Oriol Romeu was hopelessly on the wrong side. Kane’s header flashed home.

Southampton offered next to nothing in the first half but they almost found a way back into it via an unlikely source. Lloris flapped at Boufal’s shot, pushing it up and out and what happened next seemed to unfold in slow motion. Rose put too much on his attempted back header and it looked set to loop over Lloris for an own goal. The keeper, though, got something on to it, raced back and patted the ball on to his post before clutching it gratefully.

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