Mauricio Pochettino 'proud' as Harry Kane helps Tottenham beat West Ham

Mauricio Pochettino praised Harry Kane as
one of the Premier League's best strikers
after the England international netted a brace
as Tottenham ran out comfortable 4-1
winners against West ham at White Hart
Lane on Sunday.
Kane, 22, opened the scoring for Spurs after
23 minutes with a fine turn and finish past
West Ham goalkeeper Adrian, before Toby
Alderweireld headed home a second 10
minutes later to put Spurs in a commanding
lead.
Kane -- who went through a goal drought
earlier this season after going 748 minutes
without a Spurs strike -- added his second
with a lashed 25-yard effort to wrap up the
game five minutes after the restart, and Kyle
Walker netted the hosts' fourth before Manuel
Lanzini scored a late consolation for the
Hammers.
Spurs moved to within two points of fourth-
placed Arsenal with the victory, and
Pochettino says the belief of Spurs' young
squad -- particularly Kane -- is behind their
fine recent form, extending their unbeaten run
to 12 games in the process.
"When you are a striker, there are always
tough periods but I never had doubts about
Harry Kane," he told BBC Sport. "He is a top
player. He is one of the best strikers in the
Premier League.
"I am very pleased with the performance and
with the players. Congratulations to them. It
was an amazing show and I feel very proud.
We all feel very proud.
"The most important thing is that the players
believe in the way we play and we share the
same philosophy. Today was a big step
forward because it was a very good example
of how we want to play, and how we want to
play in the future.
"I think it is one of the best performances
and results this season. It was a fantastic
game. But the next game is always the
challenge. Our objective is step by step. We
are still very young and need to improve but
it is important to keep the same mentality.
"We are the youngest team in the Premier
League but it is not about your age, but
belief. When you see a performance like that,
it is because the team believes."
Kane was delighted with Spurs' performance,
telling Sky Sports: "That was probably the
best performance we have had this season.
The whole week training has been incredible
and we just tried to put that out on the pitch.
We came out of the traps flying.
"As a striker when your confidence is high
you feel like you're going to score every game.
Today I could have had a couple more, but
the most important thing is we're winning by
playing well."
Speaking about a first-half chance he missed
when one-on-one with Adrian, he added: "I
tried to put my foot through it and probably
got a bit excited. I'll be punching myself that
I didn't get the hat trick."
Walker, who netted Spurs' fourth with a fine
finish, added: "It was only a matter of time.
[Kane] is a proven goal scorer and was
always going to continue his form into this
year. We all had faith in him but most
importantly he had faith in himself. When he
is playing well he is unstoppable."
Slaven Bilic had no qualms with West Ham's
defeat after a disappointing display, telling
BBC Sport: "The performance matches the
result to be fair. They were better than us. Up
until the first goal they were pressing but we
also had some chances. After the first goal it
lifted them, we went in a bit of shock.
"But I said this to the guys, 2-0 down at half-
time, we were still in it and needed to score a
goal, to raise our game, to be more hungry.
But the third goal, which came out of our
mistake, it just killed us, and it could have
been worse.
"We just couldn't produce on the pitch. They
were more a team. They were, especially
physically, quicker and stronger and better in
transitions. To be fair of course we played a
really bad game, but they played a really
good game and we have to give some credit
for this.
"They wanted it more today than in a normal
game, but we simply were not good enough
to get anything out of that game, other than
being defeated."