Mauricio Pochettino praised Harry Kane as one of the Premier League's best strikers after the England international netted a brace as Tottenham ran out comfortable 4-1 winners against West ham at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Kane, 22, opened the scoring for Spurs after 23 minutes with a fine turn and finish past West Ham goalkeeper Adrian, before Toby Alderweireld headed home a second 10 minutes later to put Spurs in a commanding lead.
Kane -- who went through a goal drought earlier this season after going 748 minutes without a Spurs strike -- added his second with a lashed 25-yard effort to wrap up the game five minutes after the restart, and Kyle Walker netted the hosts' fourth before Manuel Lanzini scored a late consolation for the Hammers.
Spurs moved to within two points of fourth-placed Arsenal with the victory, and Pochettino says the belief of Spurs' young squad -- particularly Kane -- is behind their fine recent form, extending their unbeaten run to 12 games in the process.
"When you are a striker, there are always tough periods but I never had doubts about Harry Kane," he told BBC Sport. "He is a top player. He is one of the best strikers in the Premier League.
"I am very pleased with the performance and with the players. Congratulations to them. It was an amazing show and I feel very proud. We all feel very proud.
"The most important thing is that the players believe in the way we play and we share the same philosophy. Today was a big step forward because it was a very good example of how we want to play, and how we want to play in the future.
"I think it is one of the best performances and results this season. It was a fantastic game. But the next game is always the challenge. Our objective is step by step. We are still very young and need to improve but it is important to keep the same mentality.
"We are the youngest team in the Premier League but it is not about your age, but belief. When you see a performance like that, it is because the team believes."
Kane was delighted with Spurs' performance, telling Sky Sports: "That was probably the best performance we have had this season. The whole week training has been incredible and we just tried to put that out on the pitch. We came out of the traps flying.
"As a striker when your confidence is high you feel like you're going to score every game. Today I could have had a couple more, but the most important thing is we're winning by playing well."
Speaking about a first-half chance he missed when one-on-one with Adrian, he added: "I tried to put my foot through it and probably got a bit excited. I'll be punching myself that I didn't get the hat trick."
Walker, who netted Spurs' fourth with a fine finish, added: "It was only a matter of time. [Kane] is a proven goal scorer and was always going to continue his form into this year. We all had faith in him but most importantly he had faith in himself. When he is playing well he is unstoppable."
Slaven Bilic had no qualms with West Ham's defeat after a disappointing display, telling BBC Sport: "The performance matches the result to be fair. They were better than us. Up until the first goal they were pressing but we also had some chances. After the first goal it lifted them, we went in a bit of shock.
"But I said this to the guys, 2-0 down at half-time, we were still in it and needed to score a goal, to raise our game, to be more hungry. But the third goal, which came out of our mistake, it just killed us, and it could have been worse.
"We just couldn't produce on the pitch. They were more a team. They were, especially physically, quicker and stronger and better in transitions. To be fair of course we played a really bad game, but they played a really good game and we have to give some credit for this.
"They wanted it more today than in a normal game, but we simply were not good enough to get anything out of that game, other than being defeated."