Five-goal Defoe leads Spurs to stunning rout

Tottenham 9 Wigan 1. Records fell and superlatives abounded yesterday, as Harry Redknapp's Spurs put in a performance of compelling, total football and tore poor Wigan Athletic to shreds in front of a delirious White Hart Lane. Jermain Defoe's five goals - including a hat-trick in just seven minutes, the second fastest in the league's history - shot him to the top of the scoring charts with 11 Premier League goals and must have sealed Michael Owen's fate as the striker who'll miss out on the World Cup next year.

The result took the north Londoners back into fourth spot in the table, on the same points as great rivals Arsenal, and gave the clearest warning possible that they intend to challenge for a Champions League place at the end of the season. For Wigan, it was another Dr Jekyll showing in a campaign that has seen them beat Aston Villa and Chelsea, but incur thumpings from Portsmouth and now Spurs. For all that boss Roberto Martinez wants to play beautiful attacking football, his defence is so threadbare that Wigan will need to staff up at the back in the transfer window.

While the first half of the game contained, remarkably, only one goal, a ninth-minute stooping header from Peter Crouch after an excellent accurate cross from his England teammate Aaron Lennon, the signs that something special were about to happen were all there. Crouch could have had a hat-trick within the first ten minutes, and Defoe was swarming all around the pitch. Wilson Palacios, Tom Huddlestone and Defoe all had shots on target or narrowly wide, and Chris Kirkland was having a busy time, pulling off some brilliant saves to keep Wigan in touch at the interval.

Six minutes into the second period, and the dam finally broke. Defoe converted after being put through by Lennon, and 150 seconds later it was 3-0, after Palacios turned provider for the little striker's second. A Wigan goal at the other end of the pitch briefly held up affairs, Paul Scharner shooting past Heurelho Gomes after seemingly handling the ball in the box, but within a minute Defoe got his hat-trick - and Lennon made it three assists. Six minutes later. the winger was set up by Peter Crouch for Spurs' fifth, a searing low shot from the right hand side of the box.

The Londoners were threatening with every touch of the ball now, while Wigan's defence had melted away, and Defoe's fourth wasn't long in coming, the striker running on to a beautiful through-ball from Vedran Corluka. He made it five for himself and 7-1 with just four minutes left on the clock, before a late free kick by David Bentley rebounded off the post and then off Kirkland for the eighth, and Niko Kranjcar scored the ninth in the final minute of extra time.

Man of the match Defoe was effusive after the game, reflecting on the first five-goal haul in the Premier league since Alan Shearer ten years ago: "It was like a dream. Brilliant. None of the lads can believe it - scoring nine. But the finishing from all of us was unbelievable. Look at Niko Kranjcar's finish for the ninth, in off the bar. I looked over at the manager at one stage when the goals were flying in and even he looked shocked. We actually felt as if we needed a second at half-time just to kill [Wigan] off. In the end we felt as if we maybe needed a 10th." ·