Tottenham Hotspur vs. Leicester City: final score 4-3, Kane hat trick leads Spurs to victory

Tottenham Hotspur got a hat trick from Harry Kane and an own goal from Foxes player Jeff Schlupp as they defeated Leicester City 4-3 in a bizarre Premier League match at White Hart Lane.

The match started off inauspiciously after Kyle Walker lost Jamie Vardy on defense in the first minute. Walker put in a wild block attempt in the box and slid straight into Hugo Lloris. Vardy was offside, but that's small consolation for Hugo, who was stretchered off, with Michel Vorm as his replacement.

Things picked up quickly though: Harry Kane scored in the 6th minute off an Andros Townsend corner kick. The ball was flicked on by Eric Dier toward goal and tipped away by Kaspar Schmeichel, but Kane was there to fire in the rebound and put Tottenham up 1-0.

Kane got his second goal just seven minutes later. Kyle Walker put in a low cross from the right side that again found the feet of Kane who fired into the top left corner, after a deflection off of Robert Huth. It was a wicked deflection that might well be changed to an own-goal on Huth, as it ricocheted in off of his face, but for now is listed as Kane's 27th goal in all competitions.

Kane nearly got a first half hat trick in the 19th minute, but his goal past an embattled Schmeichel was ruled offside. Christian Eriksen also got close in the 22nd minute, but his low shot went off the post and Chadli misfired on the rebound.

Spurs defender Eric Dier later took an arm to the face on an aerial challenge with a Leicester player and went down for treatment. He was okay but ended up with a large welt below his right eye. He probably should've been taken off, based on the size of that lump, but he soldiered on for the full 90.

Jamie Vardy pulled a goal back for Leicester in the 38th minute as Spurs continued their penchant for defensive derps. Leicester put in a cross from the left side to Vardy who beat two defenders before firing home past Vorm. The first half ended 2-1.

It didn't take long for Leicester to equalize. After another defensive breakdown that originated from the left side, the resulting Leicester corner met a Wes Morgan who was inexplicably wide open. It was an easy headed finish past Vorm.

Pochettino made his second change of the match in the 58th minute, bringing on Paulinho for a mostly ineffective Andros Townsend. A few minutes later Danny Rose won a penalty for Spurs after he was bowled over in the box by David Nugent. Harry Kane stepped up to the spot and fired the penalty kick home, completing his hat trick. Kane also very nearly had a fourth a few minutes later after a Chadli pass was volleyed just over the bar.

Leicester piled on the pressure late in the match chasing the equalizer and continued to find openings in Spurs' defense to exploit. Christian Eriksen broke through Leicester's defense late in the match off of an outstanding pass from Paulinho. Eriksen's shot went off of Schmeichel and then bounced off Jeff Schlupp and into the goal to put Spurs up 4-2.

And even THEN the match wasn't over. David Nugent drove through Spurs' defense, shouldered Jan Vertonghen aside, and fired past Vorm to pull another back for Leicester. After a frenetic last few minutes, the whistle mercifully blew and Spurs escaped with a 4-3 win.

Notes:

• Holy crap, was Spurs' defense terribad. Kyle Walker had another horrific outing, allowing a goal and at least three chances for Leicester that originated from his side of the pitch. Oh, and he also broke Hugo. I like Walker, but this was his second straight horror-show of a match.
  
  
• In fact, Leicester clearly focused their attacks on the left side, which not coincidentally is where Walker, Mason, and Townsend play. The Walker-Mason-Townsend nexus was especially awful today, and Pochettino did virtually nothing to mitigate that. This is the second straight match where this has been problematic. Poche needs to make a change.
  
  
• By contrast, Danny Rose had another very good match, particularly on defense, and then he went out and won Spurs a penalty. WHAT IS THIS SORCERY? (But seriously, he did really, really well.)
  
  
• Upon replay, there's no way that Kane's second goal won't be called an own goal on Robert Huth. It looked way off-target.
  
  
• Nabil Bentaleb probably should have been sent off for a slap on Fernando Ulloa in the second half. He's a very, very lucky boy that the ref either didn't see it or didn't care.
  
  
• Hugo Lloris' injury was ruled a "bad gash" but there's been no info about how long, if at all, he'll be out.
  
  
• Harry Kane has 28/27 goals this season. Seriously. Just think about that.
  
  
• Paulinho had a pretty nice shift today in limited action. I'm okay giving him some more chances here late in the season, even if it's only for the shop window.
  
  
• Spurs won this match more because Leicester were terrible than because Spurs were good. Normally I'm happy after a win. Today I'm ticked off that we shipped three goals to the EPL cellar-dwellers and looked awful doing it.