Leaders Chelsea extended their advantage
to seven points by winning 3-0 at Everton earlier in the day, but
Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs cut the gap back to four points with a
thrilling display.
The two goals arrived within 146 seconds
of each other in the second half, Alli polishing off a rebound and Kane
netting a penalty to take their respective goal tallies to 17 and 21
for the campaign.
Spurs will finish above Arsenal for the
first time since 1995, ending 22 years of "St Totteringham's Day" -- the
day marked by Arsenal fans when their team can no longer be overtaken
by their local rivals.
Spurs will play at Wembley next season
before moving into their new stadium -- which is being built on the site
of their current home -- in August 2018.
They have now won nine league games in
succession and prevailed in 13 successive league matches at home within
the same season for the first time.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's 50th
north London derby ended in a fifth defeat in six away games, leaving
his side six points off the Champions League slots in sixth place.
Arsenal retain a game in hand, however,
and their disappointment was mitigated by the fact top-four rivals
Manchester City and Manchester United both dropped points earlier in the
day.
Laurent Koscielny shook off a knee
injury to take his place in an Arsenal back three that swiftly found
itself under examination.
It took the hosts less than a minute to
register a shot on target, Kane working Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech at
his near post after Alli hooked the ball on.
Toby Alderweireld headed wide from an
Christian Eriksen corner and Ben Davies saw a cross deflected into the
side-netting by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain before Alli spurned a gilt-edged
chance.
Kane's shot from the right flicked up
off Koscielny and looped towards the back post, but with the goal at his
mercy -- and under pressure from Oxlade-Chamberlain -- Alli nodded wide
from point-blank range.
Cech acrobatics
Three minutes later another chance went begging.
After nutmegging Oxlade-Chamberlain, Son
Heung-Min dispatched a shot that fell kindly for Eriksen, but from
seven yards out and with the net gaping, his left-foot volley clipped
the crossbar.
The half ended with Cech scrambling to
turn a low Jan Vertonghen effort behind, but prior to that Arsenal had
threatened to land a sucker-punch.
Aaron Ramsey obliged Spurs goalkeeper
Hugo Lloris to palm a curling attempt wide, while Kieran Gibbs slashed
over and Alexis Sanchez billowed an effort off-target.
The pattern continued in the second
half, Cech saving from Victor Wanyama and Kane and Son hitting the
side-netting from the corner that followed Wanyama's effort.
Olivier Giroud provided a moment of alarm by volleying over at an Arsenal corner, but in the 55th minute Spurs' pressure told.
After jinking into the six-yard box,
Eriksen was thwarted by Cech, but Alli followed up to slide in the
rebound, with Oxlade-Chamberlain completely miscuing an attempted
goal-line clearance.
The Lane was rocking and three minutes later the home fans had a second goal to cherish.
Kane drew a clumsy swipe from Gabriel and then wrong-footed Cech with an emphatic, drilled penalty into the bottom-left corner.
Arsenal looked to respond, Giroud and
Sanchez shooting tamely at Lloris, before Danny Welbeck and Hector
Bellerin were pitched into the fray from the bench.
But Spurs continued to look the more
likely scorers and it was only because of Cech's acrobatics that they
failed to run away with the game.
The former Chelsea goalkeeper produced
flying saves to deny Vertonghen and Alderweireld and raced out smartly
to thwart Kane, who also headed into the side-netting.
