Perfect day for Tottenham in Premier League's top-4 fight

It was a Premier League day that could hardly have gone any better for Tottenham Hotspur.

With its 4-0 win at Aston Villa－inspired by Son Heung-min's hat-trick－and losses for both Arsenal and Manchester United on Saturday, Tottenham became favorite to claim the fourth and final Champions League qualification spot.

Antonio Conte's Spurs are hitting form just as rivals are imploding and now have a three-point cushion in fourth place over Arsenal, which slumped 2-1 at home to Brighton for a third loss in its last fourth games.

As for United, a 1-0 loss at an Everton team that had been in free-fall constituted another low in what has turned into a desperate season. One, remarkably, that could yet end without qualification for European competition.

United is in seventh place, six points behind Tottenham and with plenty of traffic between them.

In Son, Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham has an attacking triumvirate that is proving impossible to keep down, and they scored and assisted all four goals against Villa.

"We knew about the other results of Arsenal and Manchester United－when we did the warm-up the fans were celebrating," Son told the BBC. " (But) we have to focus our performances and be calm, cool and we did that today."

Son now has six goals in his last three league games, having opened the scoring in the third minute after a shot from Kane deflected into his path at the edge of the area. His finish was unforgiving, kissing the post on its way in just like his third goal－in the 71st and off a pass from Kulusevski－which completed his first hat-trick of the season.

"I'm so happy to get three points, it was a hard afternoon," Son said. "Without Hugo we were probably 3-1 down in the first half, Hugo (Lloris) saved us today and it was a big performance from our captain when we needed him and he turned up saving every ball. He was unbelievable."

Two glancing headers from Kane set up the other goals from Kulusevski and Son in the 50th and 66th minutes.

Tottenham will host Arsenal on May 12 in what is shaping up to be a mouth-watering north London derby. Gunners manager Mikel Arteta will just be hoping his team isn't out of the running by then.

Arsenal woes

The absences of first-choice leftback Kieran Tierney and influential holding midfielder Thomas Partey are proving significant for Arsenal, disrupting the team's defensive solidity established under Arteta.

Five days after a 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, Arsenal was undone by goals from Leandro Trossard and Enock Mwepu for Brighton. Martin Odegaard netted an 89th-minute consolation for Arsenal.

"We know with the team we have available the difficult challenge we have ahead, that is for sure," Arteta said. "The injuries make the situation more complicated but we are not looking for excuses."

One positive for Arsenal is the game in hand it has over Tottenham, though that is a rearranged meeting with third-place Chelsea.

Another annihilation

Having lost 9-0 in each of the last two seasons, Southampton looked set to be beaten by a similar scoreline when Chelsea romped into a 6-0 lead after 54 minutes of their match at St. Mary's Stadium.

Mercifully, Chelsea eased up in the final half-hour ahead of a trip to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday and that's how the game finished.

Mason Mount and Timo Werner both scored twice while there were also goals for Marcos Alonso and Kai Havertz.

"It seems," Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl said, "we have to have one game like this a season, which is not nice to watch and very hard to take."

Chelsea consolidated third place in the league and looks almost certain of returning to the Champions League next term, having moved eight points clear of fifth-place Arsenal. It is 10 points behind second-place Liverpool.

In Saturday's other game, next-to-last Watford lost 3-0 to Leeds and slipped six points from safety.

Agencies