Leeds United’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed as Tottenham earned a comfortable 4-1 win at Elland Road.
Goals at the start of both halves from Harry Kane and Pedro Porro ruined United’s slim chances of staying up and while they eventually pulled one back with 23 minutes remaining through Jack Harrison, Kane’s second and his 30th in the league denied Sam Allardyce’s side the win needed to keep them in England’s top division.
Lucas Moura came on late in the piece and netted a fabulous solo effort to put the finishing touches on the victory, though it wasn’t enough to lift Tottenham into the Europa Conference League spots as Aston Villa beat Brighton to finish seventh.
United couldn’t had made a poorer start as they started their ambitious attempt to beat the drop. Pascal Struijk misjudged the ball, allowing Porro to come inside. Son Heung-min shuffled it across to Kane, who swept in just 92 seconds into the contest, giving home manager Sam Allardyce a rather forlorn expression on the touchline.
Leeds did go close to an equaliser soon after when Robin Koch arrived to meet Rodrigo Moreno’s cross, but the German could only flash his header wide of the post.
The clear emphasis from the home side was on set piece opportunities and delivering from out wide, with seven corners won by United in the first half. A vicious strike from Adam Forshaw was well blocked by Davinson Sanchez before Dejan Kulusevski teed up Kane to strike straight at Joel Robles.
A scuffed Yves Bissouma strike fell to the feet of Kane, but the England captain couldn’t control it in the box and the chance escaped him.
United applied pressure towards the end of the first half to create some decent but wasted chances. Koch saw another another header loop over Fraser Forster’s goal before Rodrigo sent a similar effort wide.
Rasmus Kristensen could only divert a half volley high and wide of Forster’s goal before half time came.
One can only imagine Allardyce got both his pre-match and half-time team talks horribly wrong as Leeds again conceded within minutes of play resuming. Kane drifted through Leeds’ midfield and his pass deflected into the path of Porro, who smashed his shot into the bottom corner.
Just 79 seconds had passed after the restart when the Spaniard made it 2-0.
The atmosphere turned rather muted at Elland Road with United fans presented with a gloomy outlook for the summer, but winger Harrison did at least spark hopes of a comeback as he wriggled in the box and struck past Forster into the far corner.
However, that optimism was quickly quashed as Kane brought up 30 league goals by finishing off a counter. Porro had acres of space in the middle of the pitch to play in Kane, who lifted his strike past Robles.
Leeds fans were fed up by the time Lucas came on for a late farewell appearance and the Brazilian mocked the home side’s defending by waltzing through midfield easily before dinking in.
Both sides face difficult summers, with Leeds needing to bounce back at the first attempt from the Championship while Tottenham need to find a manager capable of keeping Harry Kane happy in north London.
GK: Joel Robles – 5/10 – Not a commanding figure in Leeds’ box but made a few stops by using his big frame.
RWB: Luke Ayling – 4/10 – Floundered in possession on occasion.
CB: Rasmus Kristensen – 5/10 – Made one vital challenge to keep Tottenham out and was robust in the tackle. Slightly uncoordinated but probably the best of Leeds’ defenders.
CB: Liam Cooper – 4/10 – Looked badly off the pace when Spurs countered and picked up a cynical albeit necessary yellow card.
CB: Max Wober – 3/10 – Some bad headed clearances presented Spurs with chances they might have profited off on another day.
LWB: Pascal Struijk – 1/10 – Oh man. Responsible for Tottenham’s first two goals with bad mistakes. Really elementary stuff that he just messed up with the pressure on.
RM: Weston McKennie – 2/10 – Showed very little. Didn’t have the pace to track back well enough out wide and couldn’t produce any quality in attack.
CM: Robin Koch – 5/10 – Wasted two of Leeds’ best chances with some errant headers.
CM: Adam Forshaw – 6/10 – A pretty honest display in recycling and retrieving the ball but showed little invention when Spurs needed to be opened up.
LM: Jack Harrison – 6/10 – Took his goal very nicely, working some space in the box and firing into the bottom corner. Had to be hooked before full time due to injury.
ST: Rodrigo Moreno – 4/10 – Could have benefitted from some better deliveries from out wide and couldn’t hit the target with his two shots.
Substitutes
Brenden Aaronson (59′ for Struijk) – 5/10
Junior Firpo (60′ for Wober) – 4/10
Georginio Rutter (60′ for McKennie) – 5/10
Wilfried Gnonto (88 for Harrison) – N/A
Subs not used: Crysencio Summerville, Marc Roca, Sam Greenwood, Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen, Illan Meslier.
Manager
Sam Allardyce – 3/10 – Elected to stuff his team with massive centre backs with a clear emphasis on set piece opportunities. Couldn’t get it to work and was caught out by some clinical finishing from Spurs.
GK: Fraser Forster – 6/10 – Similarly to Robles, got his body in front of anything central and didn’t make too many gaffes.
RB: Emerson Royal – 7/10 – Much more relaxed in a purely defensive role, providing an assured presence behind the forward-thinking Porrp.
CB: Davinson Sanchez – 6/10 – Made a few calamitous attempted clearances – one which bounced off a teammate for a corner – but looked oddly comfortable in the second half.
CB: Clement Lenglet – 6/10 – Not always convincing in defence but wasn’t all that tested aside from heading balls out of the box.
LB: Ben Davies – 7/10 – Solid and accomplished from the Welshman, who made a couple of important blocks with Leeds bearing down on goal.
CM: Yves Bissouma – 7/10 – Recovered the ball nicely. Provided a nice glimpse into Tottenham’s midfield for next season, though there’s plenty to sort out in the meantime.
CM: Oliver Skipp – 6/10 – Performed a similar role to Bissouma, albeit without being as eye-catching.
RW: Pedro Porro – 8/10 – Got forward in attack and didn’t have to do too much defensive thinking. Rocket of a finish put Spurs 2-0 ahead.
AM: Dejan Kulusevski – 6/10 – Drifted around and make a couple of flicks. Got a bit quieter in the second half but definitely looked freer than at certain times this season.
LW: Son Heung-min – 7/10 – Moved the ball to Kane to grab another assist and extend their deadly combination together. Couldn’t quite get the right shooting opportunity.
ST: Harry Kane – 9/10 – Scored twice to bring up 30 league goals for the season. A truly brilliant season capped off by a clinical final day, scoring twice alongside an assist for Porro.
Substitutes
Pape Matar Sarr (67′ for Kulusevski) – 7/10
Richarlison (76 for Son) – 6/10
Matthew Craig (77′ for Bissouma) – 6/10
George Abbott (90′ for Skipp) – N/A
Lucas Moura (90′ for Porro) – 8/10 – Has gone on a similar run a number of times in his Spurs career and not had the desired end result. This time, he dribbled all the way through and finished it off beautifully.
Subs not used: Arnaut Danjuma, Lucas Moura, Yago Santiago, Japhet Tanganga, Brandon Austin.
Manager
Ryan Mason – 7/10 – Set his team up to expolit the space Leeds left in behind and got the clinical finishing he wanted from Kane. Simple enough.