IN Chelsea’s slipstream, Tottenham and Manchester City are amassing points.

    Harry Kane’s double gave Tottenham a 3-2 victory over Everton to go seven points behind Chelsea on Sunday, while third-placed Manchester City is a point further back after sweeping to a 2-0 victory at Sunderland.

    Manchester City survived an early scare before goals from Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane secured a 2-0 victory at bottom-placed Sunderland.

    Jermain Defoe came close to giving the hosts a shock lead in the 20th minute when he drilled his shot against the post but Aguero opened the scoring from point-blank range in the 38th from David Silva’s cross.

    Silva also provided a defense-splitting through-ball in the 59th for Sane to score his sixth goal in 10 games.

    City climbed back to third place, eight points behind leader Chelsea.

    “They are almost unstoppable, but we are there for the rest of the teams,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.

    There’s also a big gap at the bottom, with Sunderland six points from safety.

    “We are the ones chasing the pack, trying to catch the others up,” Sunderland manager David Moyes said, looking ahead to games against Burnley and Watford. “We have games that give us an opportunity to win.”

    City’s players, who have 12 games to overturn Chelsea’s eight-point advantage over them, know all about throwing away a lead. Pep Guardiola’s side was eight points ahead of Chelsea six games into the season before the tables were turned.

    Now, according to Guardiola, Chelsea is “almost unstoppable.”

    “It’s a pity that the distance between Chelsea is so big, but that’s true,” Guardiola said. “We started the season with 10 games winning (in a row), but our game was not like today.

    “I feel we are playing quite well and that’s why we are getting results.”

    Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose side was four points behind City after four games, now has Chelsea in its sights.

    “It’s up to us to be there if they fail,” Pochettino said.

    Kane upstaged Everton’s Romelu Lukaku to assert himself as the Premier League’s sharpest striker after the duo entered this showdown level on 17 goals.

    Kane moved into top spot on England’s scoring leaderboard as Tottenham claimed a ninth successive home league win.

    Despite missing 10 games of the campaign through injury, Kane has amassed 24 goals in all competitions — only four behind last season’s haul with more than two months remaining.

    Kane had already sent Tottenham into a two-goal lead, including an audacious, dipping strike from 30 meters, when Lukaku finally managed to score in the 80th minute. Lukaku became the first opponent to beat goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the league at White Hart Lane since December.

    Tottenham had been cruising but it was a nervy conclusion. Even after Dele Alli clipped Harry Winks’ free kick into the net in the 90th minute, Everton immediately reduced the deficit again at the other end from a set-piece that Enner Valencia completed. But Tottenham held on to end a nine-game unbeaten run for seventh-placed Everton.

    (SD-Agencies)