Brighton 0 Tottenham 1: Harry Kane scores vital goal to get Spurs back to winning ways after devastating Arsenal defeat
WE have all been making such a fuss about Erling Haaland that Harry Kane’s own blistering start has gone under the radar.
Granted, the England captain’s early haul of eight goals in his opening nine league games is not a patch on Haaland’s frankly absurd 15 in the same time.
But it is Kane’s joint best-ever beginning to a league campaign at this stage, along with the 2017-18 season when he finished with 30.
That still was not enough to land the Premier League golden boot that year which was scooped by Liverpool’s Mo Salah on 32.
If they continue at the same rates, it will be nowhere near enough to prevent Manchester City’s superhuman striker from taking the marksman gong.
Yet it takes nothing away from the fact that Tottenham’s talisman is looking in fantastic nick.
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And that is welcome news for both his club and country ahead of next month’s World Cup.
Kane netted the opener here with a clinical header midway through the first half.
It was teed up by old mucker Son Heung-min, taking the pair’s number of goal combinations in the Premier League to a whopping 43.
They broke the previously held record of 36 way back in February and in this mode look like setting the bar at a much higher level by the time they are done.
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Kane also pointed to the sky after scoring, in honour of Spurs fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone, whose death on Thursday devastated the North London club.
The 61-year-old was known as ‘The Marine’ for the way he pushed his players to their limits with his drill instructor approach.
Yet despite his physical demands, his charges only ever had love for him and his tragic passing from acute leukaemia shocked Spurs to its core.
Manager Antonio Conte first worked with Ventrone as a player at Juventus and then as a coach when assistant manager at Siena, before bringing him to Spurs when taking charge last November.
He considered Ventrone like a brother and wiped away tears during a minute’s applause in memory of the Napolese before kick-off.
Spurs changed tack for this game to a 3-5-2, bringing ex-Albion star Yves Bissouma in as an extra midfielder.
Conte had tried it in the second half of the 6-2 win over Leicester before the international break and had slightly surprised some by not employing it from the off sooner.
It gave Spurs far more control against a side who suggested last week in their 3-3 draw at Liverpool that they love possession just as much under new boss Roberto De Zerbi as under predecessor Graham Potter.
Spurs were also forced to change things up at right wing-back due to Emerson Royal’s red card in the North London derby last week.
Conte had been critical of Matt Doherty’s current level in the pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Yet it was the Irishman who he turned to in Royal’s absence.
Doherty had two early half-chances, failing to control a defence-splitting pass from Rodrigo Bentancur and then mishitting a difficult half-volley from Ryan Sessegnon’s cross.
The fact that he was in the positions for both chances showed how much more of a threat Doherty can be than Royal.
Yet his execution also showed why Conte has been unimpressed so far this term.
De Zerbi tipped Danny Welbeck for a shock England recall last month despite the veteran forward failing to net at all this term.
Welbeck was almost off the mark when taking on a shot from a tight angle, first time, but fired just the wrong side of the post.
Kane, the man Welbeck would be competing with were he to force his way back into Gareth Southgate’s plans, then was rightly booked for a deliberate handball which the locals were having none of.
Yet Spurs carried a threat they lacked in Germany midweek and Robert Sanchez had to use all of his 6ft6ins frame to keep out a Rodrigo Bentancur strike heading for the far corner.
The visitors took the lead on 22 minutes thanks to that old Kane-Son combo.
Son swung in a corner which Brighton could only clear as far as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who neatly clipped the ball back over to the South Korean.
Tottenham’s No7 then fired in a cross which an onside Kane headed home, before pointing to the heavens.
Kane tried to repay the favour on the hour when playing a ball into the on-rushing Son, but the fleet-footed forward was denied by a stunning last-ditch tackle by Lewis Dunk.
It was outstanding defending from the Brighton captain, but his next action was less impressive.
Kane easily turned him and should have wrapped up the points, but fired wide to the shock of nigh-on everyone in the Amex.
Conte surprisingly went back to three up top for the final 20 minutes, bringing on Richarlison, presumably in a bid to hit the hosts on the break.
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Son did have the ball in the net soon after with a thunderbolt but was offside.
Brighton pushed until the end but could not get past Spurs’ series of last-ditch tackles, with Kane, the man of the moment after Haaland, among those putting their bodies on the line.
