A cold Monday night at the Britannia facing the Potters was going to be one tough assignment with Mauricio Pochettino previously drawing a blank against them.

The truth is this Spurs side is the best balanced team in the league and playing a beautiful brand of iron fist in velvet glove football. Stoke were blown away as Harry Kane and Dele Alli scored a brace each with the woodwork twice coming in the way of more. It was an 11 on the Spinal Tap amplifiers. Spurs won’t go gentle into that good night while the teeth gnashing commensurately got worse down at the Emirates.

Moussa Dembele and Eric Dier are midfield emperors, Christian Ericksen, the rapier carving out opportunity after opportunity, Harry Kane, the consummate sniper, Dele Alli, in his versatility a Renaissance man, and Danny Rose and Kyle Walker, jet heeled force multipliers. Then there is Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, the league’s sturdiest bedrock and Hugo Lloris, the league’s most prominent risk taker and reflexive shot stopper. You realize why Spurs have scored the most goals while conceding the fewest in the league.

That leaves Erik Lamela who deserves his own paragraph. The Argentinian was the club’s most expensive headcase when he transferred from AS Roma. Undoubtedly talented but written of as a showboating lightweight, his shelf life considered limited because his sulks outnumbered the times he touched the ball. Andres Villa Boas could not get anything out of him. Under Pochettino, he’s undergone a metamorphosis to a selfless and tenacious presence in the attacking third. Lamela had a hand in at least two of the goals against Stoke as evidence of his continued salvation. The assist for Kane’s second goal was a sign of a player recognizing his team’s need for a greater good. He seems

Spurs are now five points behind Leicester, the only side left with a realistic chance of challenging the Foxes for league honours, while City and Arsenal fall further behind to duke it out for third and fourth spot.