Harry Kane was on the scoresheet for the fifth successive game for Tottenham as they cruised to victory over rivals West Ham United in the London derby at White Hart lane on Sunday evening.
Advertisement
The Metropolitan Police said the victim was stabbed in the abdomen in an incident around the junction of White Hart Lane and Tottenham High Road.
But they were ahead shortly afterwards when Kane turned and fired home from close range after Dele Alli had caused confusion in the Hammers defence.
West Ham nearly responded immediately when midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate’s improvised bicycle kick diverted captain Mark Noble’s deflected shot onto the crossbar.
Kane admitted he should have had at least a hat-trick after wasting a glorious first-half opportunity with a poor left-footed finish but otherwise feels confident after making it 12 goals in 14 London derby appearances. Son worked space for himself at the edge of the area and when his shot was parried by Adrian, Alli’s looping header from the rebound hit the bar. Kane made the most of Eriksen’s industry, crisply firing low past Adrian for the home side’s third of the afternoon. I know what it means to play against West Ham.
Both sides made one change, with Spurs bringing in Son Heung-min for the suspended Erik Lamela, while the visitors started Diafra Sakho in place of the injured Dimitri Payet.
Finally, in the Hammers’ final game of their upcoming three-match sequence comes against Stoke, who have the best defensive record across the last six league games to the current point. Referee Anthony Taylor moved quickly to nip any further nonsense in the bud by cautioning all four perpetrators. Ryan Mason will come as Alli’s replacement.
“We need to stay calm with him”.
A more surprising development has been Mousa Dembele’s renaissance.
In this form it’s hard to ignore Spurs as genuine top-four contenders.
Reuters Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino said it was too soon to anoint them title contenders.
“I am very pleased, there were a lot of positive things from today”.
“The way we respect the players, the way we try to play – for the big players and the young players it is a fantastic club”.
“Of course we’re very happy with the result, but at the end – especially because we’re defenders – we want to have a clean sheet and unfortunately we didn’t”. We need to develop our way [of playing], to be consistent. “It is a question of taking it step by step and seeing where we are in five months”. We deserved to be beaten.
Man of the match Kane said on Sky Sports: “I enjoy the atmosphere of these games, especially when we’re at home”. “They were better than us”. They scored goals and grew in confidence. The goals – Sunday’s was his second for Spurs – are a bonus.
Advertisement
Spurs have shaken off a tendency earlier in the season to draw games they should have won – in large part to Harry Kane getting his scoring boots laced up again.
