Harry Kane tees up Son's four-goal show as Spurs hammer Southampton

After a topsy-turvy opening, this game soon developed a familiar theme, with Harry Kane supplying a supercharged Son Heung-min to score on four occasions and earn Tottenham a resounding victory. It is the first time one player has assisted another four times in a Premier League match but Kane eventually got in on the act to score Spurs’ fifth after preying on a rebound.

When Spurs seamlessly click in the final third as they did here, the thought of adding the returning Gareth Bale into the attacking cocktail is a mouth-watering proposition.

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It is unlikely to be a thought opposition defences will want to stew on given how Tottenham feasted on Southampton’s soft centre time and again as Son, who displayed an apparently telepathic understanding with Kane, laid on an exhibition in ruthless finishing.

José Mourinho insists he still wants to add a striker before the transfer window closes next month and Danny Ings, who was the subject of an approach from Tottenham this past week, started and finished a festival of goalmouth action, converting from the penalty spot in second-half stoppage time after opening the scoring with an irresistible two-touch finish.

Mourinho made three changes from the Europa League win in Bulgaria on Thursday and compared juggling his squad with poring over a jigsaw. Finding room for Bale, who is expected to make a return from a knee injury after the October international break, and the left-back Sergio Reguilón, another signing from Real Madrid, should be a formality, but the future of Dele Alli, omitted from Spurs’ travelling party for the second time in four days, does not appear so straightforward.

“A coach always likes the best players in his squad and Gareth, when fit and in condition, is one of the top players in Europe,” Mourinho said. “And Sergio, he was amazing last season [on loan] in Sevilla. If you ask me if am happy to have these two players, I have to say yes I am. But there are other things that make a team and make a squad and the squad is a puzzle.”

The interval provided respite after a breathless first half comprising three disallowed goals, two clinical finishes and a flurry of touchline antics. When Son equalised close to half-time, Ralph Hasenhüttl wellied the advertising hoardings in anger.

“Impossible,” he roared, presumably bemoaning how Tanguy Ndombele – who was replaced at half-time by Giovani Lo Celso owing to a shortage of match sharpness – wriggled away from two Southampton shirts, brushing aside Oriol Romeu and turning James Ward-Prowse on halfway before spreading the ball wide to Kane, who slid the ball across for Son, who arrowed a vicious strike into the far pocket of Alex McCarthy’s goal.

Barely 90 seconds into the second half, and just after Che Adams spurned one of several inviting openings, Tottenham seized the lead when Kane pushed a weighted pass between Southampton’s centre-backs. From there Son made it look easy, eliminating Jack Stephens before firing a left-foot shot across goal.

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Southampton showed glimpses of quality but Tottenham taught them a harsh lesson, with Son drilling beyond McCarthy after Kane effortlessly unleashed the forward with a cute dinked pass. Son wheeled away in celebration and was at it again nine minutes later, dovetailing with Kane for the fourth after the England striker drifted wide to pick up possession. Kane took one look before hooking a delicious cross towards Son, who emphatically did the rest.

It was all a far cry from when Ings opened the scoring. The goal was reminiscent of the one he dispatched in this fixture last season, when the striker bamboozled Toby Alderweireld after latching on to a looped pass. This time Eric Dier was the culprit, caught out by Kyle Walker-Peters, the former Tottenham defender, scooping the ball between him and Dávinson Sánchez. But Ings’s execution was exquisite, controlling the ball with a sumptuous first touch before smacking into the bottom corner with his next.

But when Tottenham breezed into their stride, Southampton could not stem the flow. Mourinho revealed Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, the former Saints captain, had given some pointers on where to hurt them and how vulnerable they looked as Spurs went through the gears.

McCarthy brilliantly tipped Erik Lamela’s shot on to a post, only for Kane – the man of the match in Mourinho’s eyes – to poke in a merciless fifth.

“We were too naive in the second half,” Hasenhüttl said.