Dane Christian Eriksen deflected some of the spotlight away from Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood in his side’s 5-1 victory over relegation-haunted Sunderland in the Premier League last night, scoring one and making two with a majestic midfield display.

Sunderland were gifted a 17th minute lead when Lee Cattermole shot home after a defensive mix-up but with Eriksen pulling the strings in midfield the hosts responded with goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Harry Kane before Eriksen claimed one for himself.

Adebayor bagged a second and Gylfi Sigurdsson makes it 5-1 in stoppage time to leave Sunderland adrift at the bottom of the table.

Eriksen’s laser-like deliveries were responsible for Tottenham first two goals, the first bundled in by Adebayor after 28 minutes and the second gobbled up by Kane on the hour. With 15 minutes remaining he then beat Vito Mannone with a deflected drive.

Victory lifted Tottenham back above Manchester United into sixth place and kept alive their flickering hopes of a top-four finish, although they remain five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal.

Media reports during the day suggested Sherwood would be relieved of his duties at the end of the season although the club issued a statement dismissing it as speculation.

Sherwood was his usual animated self on the touchline and did not have the look of a man who was about to lose his job.

Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal has been linked to the Tottenham job in recent weeks after thrashings against Chelsea and Liverpool in quick succession scuppered the London side’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

  P W D L F A Pts
Liverpool 33 23 5 5 90 40 74
Chelsea 33 22 6 5 65 24 72
Man. City 31 22 4 5 84 29 70
Arsenal 33 19 7 7 56 40 64
Everton 32 18 9 5 52 31 63
Tottenham 33 18 5 10 45 45 59
Man. United 33 17 6 10 56 38 57
Southampton 33 13 9 11 50 44 48
Newcastle 33 14 4 15 38 51 46
Stoke City 33 10 10 13 37 48 40
West Ham 33 10 7 16 37 44 37
Hull City 33 10 6 17 34 40 36
Aston Villa 32 9 7 16 35 48 34
C. Palace 32 10 4 18 23 39 34
Swansea 33 8 9 16 45 49 33
West Brom 32 6 14 12 37 48 32
Norwich City 33 8 8 17 26 52 32
Fulham 33 8 3 22 33 74 27
Cardiff City 33 6 8 19 29 64 26
Sunderland 31 6 7 18 29 53 25

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