Everton FC 0–1 Tottenham Hotspur on 24 May 2015

Tottenham qualified for the group stage of the Europa League after finishing fifth in the Premier League with a confident win at Everton.

Harry Kane scored his 31st goal of the season, also equalling a Premier League club record, after he headed in Eric Dier's first-half cross.

Everton were poor and came closest via Seamus Coleman's angled effort.

Crystal Palace beat Swansea to move into 10th, leaving Everton out of the top half for the first time since 2006.

Although Roberto Martinez's Everton side have recovered from a poor start to the season where they struggled to combine a busy domestic and European schedule, they slumped to a third defeat in four games.

They lacked fluency and urgency as the visitors easily kept control and the game was a lot more comfortable for Spurs than the scoreline suggested.

Everton finished 25 points down on last season's tally under Martinez, which was a club Premier League record.

There will need to be much improvement from the Spaniard's team as they seek to return to the top seven, which they have achieved over the last four seasons.

Despite also appearing in this season's Europa League, Tottenham's bigger squad appeared to give them a better consistency throughout the campaign and, in Mauricio Pochettino's first season in charge, they improved on last season's sixth-place finish.

Spurs ended six points behind fourth-placed Manchester United but Pochettino has said he aims to improve on this season, and that none of his squad would be safe this summer as he re-assesses his staff.

That sort of threat appeared to galvanise the team as they set the tempo against Everton. When Kane scored his 21st Premier League goal to equal a club record set by Teddy Sheringham, Jurgen Klinsmann and Gareth Bale, Everton had little response despite improving after the break.

With Liverpool being thumped 6-1 by Stoke, Spurs leapfrogged Brendan Rodgers' side and qualified for the Europa League group stage, meaning they will begin that competition in September rather than the third qualifying round on 30 July.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino: "The first half was one of the best of the season. We played very well and to finish fifth is fantastic for us. We have a very young squad, and the young players improved a lot during the season. It was tough, but it's very important to improve one position in the table, it's not easy. We have big potential and we need to be ambitious for next season. Fighting for the top four is very difficult but we need to try.

"[Finishing fifth] changes a lot of our plans for the summer. We go straight to the Europa League group stage and it's very important for the club to prepare with more time for next season."

Everton boss Roberto Martinez: "We have to work extremely hard to fulfil the potential of the squad, bring in a couple new faces and make sure we make sure we make these fans proud.

"Of course it's been a very tough season but we have learned invaluable lessons that we will use in a good effect in order to start challenging towards where we should be. "