Heung-min Son's hat-trick kept Tottenham's Premier League top-four destiny in their own hands as Spurs produced a masterclass in clinical finishing to thrash Aston Villa.
After the South Korea striker steered the visitors into an early lead, Spurs withstood a Villa onslaught to remain ahead at the interval with veteran goalkeeper Hugo Lloris making a string of superb saves.
But they cruised to victory with a breathtaking, counter-attacking second-half performance as Son swept home two more fine finishes, either side of an equally elegant strike from Dejan Kulusevski.
A fourth-successive win moved Antonio Conte's side three points above north London rivals Arsenal - beaten at home by Brighton earlier on Saturday - in the race for the fourth Champions League spot.
Villa, meanwhile, were left to reflect on a fourth-straight defeat, despite dominating long spells of the first half, as returning striker Danny Ings wasted two glorious chances to bring them level.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte said afterwards: "We know the difficulty of playing Villa away, this stadium had a great atmosphere and I want to thank our fans because they were not in the same number but they pushed us from the start to the end - so to give them this type of satisfaction is great for us. We work to improve the players but also to make our fans satisfied about their team and that happened today.
"We are pleased - not an easy game but we showed resilience in the first half when Villa tried to push a lot and put a lot of pressure on us. Every time we tried to play the ball and have a chance we did score.
"To be resilient is important if we want to be a top team, in every game there are moments when the opponent can create difficulty and if we are not strong you will never win something or do something important. We are going in this aspect, I'm very happy because I have a group of players who want to show me that they will improve in many aspects. When you have this you have to be happy to work with them and to try to do something important at the end of the season. Seven games to go and we are showing that we are deserving to stay in the race for a place in the Champions League.
"Hugo [Lloris] was amazing - we are talking about a keeper that has won a World Cup and everything with France, the captain of his national team and us. Important for us because of his experience, today we needed him and he answered very well.
"We created a good chemistry between ourselves and we can speak about Son [Heung-min], but don't forget Harry [Kane] and we have players on the bench who are important in Lucas [Moura] and Steven Bergwijn. We need to continue to work with this application and intensity and desire because the club deserve much better than fighting for fifth, sixth or seventh. I like to be competitive."
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