Chelsea and Manchester City ended a memorable first day of 2015 locked together at the top of the Premier League as City's dramatic 3-2 win over Sunderland was followed by a shock 5-3 defeat for Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea, previously beaten only once this season, were blown away by their effervescent London rivals with inspired front man Harry Kane scoring twice and setting up two more goals.
To rub in the pain for Chelsea fans it was former hero Frank Lampard who came off the bench to give City their victory after they had thrown away a 2-0 lead for the second time in a week.
When the dust settled on a day of drama that underlined why the Premier League remains the most watched domestic competition in the world, City and Chelsea were on 46 points from 20 games with an identical goal difference of plus-25 having both scored 44 goals.
Spurs rampant
Diego Costa put Chelsea ahead but a rampant Spurs surged back with goals by Kane, Danny Rose and an Andros Townsend penalty to lead 3-1 at halftime.
Kane fired his second goal seven minutes after the restart and though Eden Hazard pulled one back, Nacer Chadli completed a joyous day for a hugely impressive Spurs with the fifth goal 12 minutes from time before John Terry got a late third for Chelsea.
The performance was all the better for coming against the league's most established and consistent centre back pairing of Terry and Cahill, with the latter in particular struggling to deal with Kane's pace, power, touch and awareness.
A regular for England at every age level, a first full cap looks a certainty.
"I am just enjoying playing. Hopefully I can keep it up but the most important thing is the team winning," said Kane who spent the first half of the 2012-13 season on loan at Norwich City. "We have taken to the way the manager wants us to play and it's working. It means we go into the New Year buzzing. To score five against one of the best defences in the world shows how we're coming together."
Pochettino was full of praise for Kane but reminded everyone the forward was still learning the game.
"We need to be careful with him. He's still young but has presence now," the Argentine told reporters.
"In the last few months he's had the chance to play more and start to show his quality and we are really happy for that. It's impossible to hide him because of his performance."
