Is two up front the way forward for Tottenham

Harry Kane’s strike-partnership with Roberto Soldado proved the key to Tottenham’s 2-1 victory over Everton on Sunday

Yesterday Tottenham recorded an impressive 2-1 win over Everton at White Hart Lane.

The win moved Spurs above the Toffees in the Premier League table and put them just two points behind fourth place Manchester United.

A key feature to their play was the strike-partnership between Spanish striker Roberto Soldado and England under-21 international Harry Kane, who was many peoples man of the match.

Struggled

Soldado really has struggled to find his form since his move to Tottenham last summer from Valencia in a move costing the team from north London around £26million.

He was outstanding for Los Ches in La Liga, regularly scoring 20 plus goals a season in the Spanish top-flight.

However, goals have been hard to come by for the Spaniard in recent months. In fact his winner against Everton was his first Premier League goal since March. The lack of goals seems to have affected his confidence in front of goal and he has been labelled a flop by many.

Partnership

It is vastly acknowledged that Soldado is a far better player when he has a strike-partner and with England starlet Harry Kane alongside him, the Spaniard looked far more comfortable. He showed his relief and happiness in the celebration of his goal.

Suddenly Soldado looked like a threat to the opposition. The 29-year-old was an expert goal poacher in La Liga and that is what he does best with Kane alongside him Spurs are very much playing to the Spaniards strengths.

Promising

Harry Kane has really burst onto the goal scoring scene this season, having scored nine goals this season, including two in the Premier League.

The youngster looks like an exciting prospect. The 21-year-old has that fearlessness of youth and always looks to make things happen. He is prepared to run with the ball and take players on.

It was Kane’s promising run and shot that created Spurs equaliser yesterday and he looked like a threat to the Everton defence all game. The fact that he has come through the youth system at Spurs has helped Kane’s popularity grow amongst Spurs fans, with the chant of ‘Harry Kane, he’s one of our own’ now popular with the Spurs faithful.

Kane gives Tottenham the energy and enthusiasm that their other forwards simply do not possess. The youngster’s energy and direct style combined with Soldado’s predatory finishing could prove to be a winner for Spurs for the rest of the season.

Change

The change of formation to two up front was quite a significant one, as Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino tends to favour five in midfield and a lone striker. However, Kane dropped back into midfield in an intelligent manner and often caused problems from deep.

A big factor in Spurs defeating Everton was the high pressing that the midfield and striker produced. This high pressing was a big feature for Pochettino at Southampton. The Argentine had not quite got the Spurs players to press as effectively as the Saints players.

However, against Everton every single Spurs player pressurised the Toffees players and allowed them very little space to operate. It is slightly ironic that when Everton are at their best is when they press their opponents and that proved successful for Roberto Martinez’s side last season.

This season in the Premier League the Toffees have struggled to recreate the pressing style of last season, but Spurs mastered it beautifully.

Formula

There have been some who have asked whether Pochettino is the right man for the job at Spurs. The display against Everton should be enough to convince Spurs fans that they can produce impressive football under the Argentine.

The former-Saints boss looks to still be trying to find his best eleven and formation. If the win against Everton is anything to go by, he may just have found a winning formula.

Top four

The race for the top four and a Champions League spot is very open this year. If Spurs can reproduce the sort of display from yesterday in future games, then there is no reason why they cannot be up there fighting for a top four place.

It seems that the strike-partnership of Harry Kane and Roberto Soldado could be a key to a successful campaign for Spurs. Maybe all is not lost for Roberto Soldado at Tottenham and maybe he can now flourish alongside his talented young English strike-partner.

Is two up front the way forward for Tottenham