Harry Kane’s record-equalling goal just before half-time earned Tottenham Hotspur a vital three points over Fulham in a Premier League encounter at Craven Cottage. Read the match report here, player ratings here, the pick of the stats of the match here, or have your say on tonight’s match Vital Spurs fan forum here. Here, I will discuss my own conclusions from proceedings in West London.
First of all, it is great for Harry Kane to finally equal Jimmy Greaves’ record as Spurs’ top scorer, and now hopefully a bit of pressure has been lifted off his shoulders as mentally, he does not go into every game feeling like he has to score a hat-trick to seal the personal accolade. With one goal to go to surpass the legendary Greaves, you wouldn’t bet against him to get it at Deepdale against Preston in the FA Cup on Saturday were he to start.
The nicest thing about Kane’s goal was seeing a mini-revival of his partnership with Heung-min Son, who assisted Kane for the first time since inadvertently setting up his winner at Brighton in a similar gritty 1-0 away win back in October, and for only the second time all season.
Indeed, this was a bittersweet moment, as that stat highlights how neither player has hit the heights that they have been setting for the past 4 or 5 years, with Son particularly putting in another disappointing performance tonight despite his assist.
Losing possession eleven times, completing none of two attempted dribbles, and winning only four of his ten ground duels with no attempts on goal throughout the 76 minutes he was on the pitch (via SofaScore), the South Korean was subdued once more and things don’t look quite right for him.
Nevertheless, I still think we’re a better side with him in the team due to his capacity to occupy opposition defenders, and with Richarlison still not quite at the races, the alternatives to Son still aren’t overly enticing.
Irrespective of the forward line’s inefficiency tonight, the back-line was more than solid for a change, and Fulham failed to fashion any significant opportunities for the majority of the game. After Thursday’s disaster-class of a second half, in which the lads meekly shipped four goals without reply, this second half was welcome viewing from a defensive standpoint, and will hopefully give Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier some much-needed confidence after the collective sharpening of pitchforks and lighting of torches among the N17 faithful at the mention of their names in the starting XI.
Although Lloris did not have much to do, he did not fumble any aerial crosses or long balls (something that we’ve come to accept in recent weeks), and Dier was imperious throughout, keeping a solid grasp on the pest that is Aleksandr Mitrovic and registering 8 clearances, more than any other player on the pitch tonight (via SofaScore).
Now that we’ve ticked off a tough away game with a clean sheet and three points, here’s hoping the team can gain some real momentum by ensuring that both the defensive side and the attacking phases of play are clicking in cohesion, something that has been lacking all too often this season, as we’ll need it going into a tough set of fixtures, starting with the trip to Preston on Saturday evening.