Stoke 0 Tottenham 4 reaction: Harry Kane warns Leicester that Spurs will take them all the way

Mauricio Pochettino's side closed the gap at the top of the table to five points with a commanding display

Kane netted twice in the 4-0 win at the Britannia (Getty)

Harry Kane warned Leicester City that Tottenham are ready to fight them all the way for the Premier League title after scoring twice in the 4-0 win at Stoke which moved Mauricio Pochettino’s team to within five points of the leaders.

Kane took his tally for the season to 24 league goals, with Dele Alli scoring the other two, as Tottenham responded emphatically to Leicester’s failure to win at home to West Ham on Sunday.

England forward Kane had posted an image of lions preparing to pounce in the wake of Leicester dropping points and he insisted after the victory at Stoke that the picture was designed to prove Tottenham’s readiness to take advantage of any sign of weakness by Claudio Ranieri’s players.

“It was a few lions ready to pounce,” Kane said. “Obviously after watching the Leicester game, they dropped a couple of points and I was itching to play and I had to wait another day and a half to get out on the pitch.

"It was a bit of fun, but you never know. I just want to play.

“We have got another couple of Monday night games and we always seem to be the last to play, but we are ready, we want to be out there and enjoying our football.

“But we are not going anywhere. We have got to keep doing what we are doing and we can’t do any more than that.

“We could have scored 6 or 7 and this was probably one of our best performances of the season. It was a clean sheet as well.”

Despite the risk of goading Leicester and then slipping up, Pochettino insisted he was happy for Kane to post the picture of lions ahead of the Stoke game.

“It is a good thing because it shows how is the group, how is our squad,” Pochettino said. “We can win or not, but the desire and passion we show and how we enjoy the game is fantastic.

“It is a pleasure to work with them. Every day I enjoy on the training ground.

“The players trust in themselves, the way they play. For that they can show this performance in a very difficult stadium against a very good team like Stoke. Today you can say it was a perfect performance.”

With four games to play, Tottenham must bridge a five point gap to win the club’s first league title since 1961.

Kane applied a simple finish for his second of the night (Getty)

But Pochettino insists that Spurs still have time to reel in Ranieri’s team, who face Swansea at the King Power Stadium in their next game on Sunday.

“We will see,” Pochettino said. “We need to believe that is possible.

“It is good for the competition that we are in behind to try and put pressure on Leicester. I feel very proud.

“Our supporters were fantastic and they feel proud of us. I think it is an exciting moment for the club.

“We need to follow the same way and we need to try. In football all can happen and we need to be there. If Leicester fail, we need to be there.

“I am very focused on our team but all can happen in football. The most important thing is the performance we showed today was perfect.

“It is a big signal. We are there waiting and fighting.”