Harry Kane offers himself a record with Tottenham and at the same time brings down Manchester City


By scoring the winning goal against Manchester City (1-0), Harry Kane offered a precious victory to Tottenham, of which he became the top scorer in history, Sunday, during the 22nd day. This success allows Spurs (5th) to return to a length of Newcastle, 4th and last virtual qualifier for the Champions League, but who has played one game less than them.

He also does the business of the hated neighbor, the leader Arsenal, beaten at Everton (1-0) on Saturday, but which retains its five points lead over Manchester City (2nd) with, in addition, one game less.

267 goals with Tottenham, a record

But the event of the day, long awaited, is this record broken by Harry Kane who, with 267 goals in all competitions, exceeds the legend of the 1960s, Jimmy Greaves (266), even if the latter had not played only 379 games against 416 for Kane.

With his 17th league goal this season, Kane also became the third player to surpass 200 goals in the Premier League era in 304 appearances. If he will most likely (and why not this season?), Wayne Rooney (208), Kane, at 29, has his sights set on Alan Shearer and his 260 goals.

This 267th ball sent into the back of the net will be far enough in the ranking of his best goals. On a sudden and well-coordinated pressing from Tottenham, which must have made Antonio Conte very happy, absent because he is recovering from the removal of the gallbladder suffered on Wednesday, Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg recovered the ball from the feet of Rodrigo at the entrance to the area.

Distraught Guardiola

Unbalanced, he slipped the ball from the outside towards Kane who only had to cross his recovery to deceive Ederson (1-0). This goal, born among other things from insufficient communication between the City players, was enough to drive Pep Guardiola crazy, the sequel did not make him smile. His team had all the trouble in the world to unbalance the defensive “hedgehog” of Tottenham who almost never trembled.

There was indeed this cross which repelled a strike from Riyad Mahrez on which Hugo Lloris was totally beaten and a violent strike from Julian Alvarez, once again established alongside the very discreet Erling Haaland, courageously diverted from the head by Eric Dier (64th). But neither the entry of Kevin De Bruyne (59th), nor the second yellow card addressed to Cristian Romero in the 87th, for the umpteenth fault of the Londoners on Jack Grealish, have called into question this success.

For City, it is also the fifth defeat in as many visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and without ever having scored a single goal. While his club have remained totally inactive in the direction of arrivals this winter, despite Joao Cancelo’s sudden departure to Bayern Munich on loan, Guardiola seems almost distraught in the face of his team’s struggles. On the sidelines, he who can be so expressive, even volcanic, he remained very meditative, often talking with his assistants. This persistent bad patch is in any case a real challenge for his creativity and his tactical science.



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