LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur’s Brazil forward Lucas Moura struck a superb hat trick in a 4-0 win over relegated Huddersfield Town Saturday to bolster the home side’s hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Spurs were without the injured Harry Kane and Dele Alli but Lucas’s treble after an early Victor Wanyama goal were just reward for a dominant display against the bottom side.

The win in the early game took Spurs up to third place, a point ahead of Chelsea and four points clear of fifth-placed fellow London rival Arsenal, which has a game in hand.

Tottenham made seven changes from the side that beat Manchester City 1-0 at home in the Champions League in midweek, with an eye on the quarterfinal second leg Wednesday.

Wanyama put Spurs ahead after 24 minutes with a fine individual goal after dribbling around goalkeeper Ben Hamer and tucking the ball into an empty net from a Ben Davies pass.

Three minutes later the hosts scored again thanks to a fierce right-foot drive by Lucas that flew underneath Hamer after the excellent Moussa Sissoko set him up on the break.

Spurs’ Fernando Llorente hit the bar after halftime and Huddersfield’s Juninho Bacuna had a late free kick tipped on to the bar before Christian Eriksen hit the post on the counter.

Six minutes later Lucas controlled Eriksen’s cross and fired into the bottom corner past the helpless Hamer before rounding off the win by smashing into the top corner in stoppage time.

Newcastle recovers

Newcastle United recovered from two consecutive defeats to beat Leicester City 1-0 with an Ayoze Perez header Friday and moved 10 points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

The Spaniard glanced the ball into the top right corner of the net from Matt Ritchie’s cross to put Newcastle ahead after 32 minutes despite Leicester having dominated possession.

“It was a good game against a good team,” said Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez. “We did very well. Our players worked so hard. This relationship between the players and fans means a lot to us. The players and fans tried to do their best.”

Leicester, looking to secure a European spot next season under new coach Brendan Rodgers, had striker Jamie Vardy back.

Vardy had scored six goals in the club’s five matches under Rodgers, who joined from Celtic, but apart from an early chance that was saved he had little impact on the game.

Salomon Rondon almost put the visitors ahead when he hit the bar with a freekick from 30 metres but they did not have to wait long for Perez to strike and they held on for the win.

Leicester remains seventh on 47 points, while Newcastle moved up to 13th on 38 with their first away win since December.

“It’s difficult to break down a team like that,” said Rodgers. “It’s an area we will get better at. There wasn’t a lot in the game, our final pass just wasn’t there but we gave everything. We couldn’t break down their defence.” — Reuters