Tottenham crush Sunderland

London: Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood received a much-needed boost as Harry Kane’s first Premier League goal inspired a 5-1 rout of struggling Sunderland on Monday.

Sherwood had declined to comment on his future in the hours before kick-off at White Hart Lane after a report claimed he would be dismissed at the end of the season.

The former Tottenham midfielder was only appointed to replace the sacked Andre Villas-Boas in December, but his position has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks following a disappointing run of results.

Holland coach Louis van Gaal, Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax boss Frank de Boer have all been strongly linked with the Tottenham job.

Even this convincing win is unlikely to save Sherwood, but he looks set to go out fighting and fittingly it was a goal from England Under-21 striker Kane that set the tone.

Lee Cattermole had given bottom of the table Sunderland a shock early lead.

But Emmanuel Adebayor equalised and Kane, one of the promising prodigies Sherwood championed during his time as the club’s director of youth development, marked his first top-flight start by putting the hosts ahead after the break before late goals from

Christian Eriksen, Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson sealed the demolition.

Tottenham are back in sixth while Sunderland lie seven points from safety.