LONDON — In his 300th Premier League appearance, Harry Kane equalled the late Jimmy Greaves’ record of 266 goals for Tottenham as his first-half winner gave Tottenham a key 1-0 win at Fulham on Monday.
Kickoff was delayed by nearly 20 minutes due to local transport chaos, and it was Fulham who enjoyed much of the better play in the first half. But Kane had the key say on proceedings with a wonderfully taken goal in first-half injury time.
Tottenham were the better of the two sides in the second 45 minutes with Kane drawing a superb save from goalkeeper Bernd Leno with a close-range header. Fulham could have snatched a late equaliser, but goalkeeper Hugo Lloris did brilliantly to tip Manor Solomon’s effort round the post.
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Rapid reaction
1. Kane saves Tottenham after a dismal start
It was an abject first half from Tottenham. They repeatedly misplaced passes — Cristian Romero a chief perpetrator here — and failed to build any real momentum, until the final throes of that first half.
Just before the halftime whistle, Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-Min started to find space and the previously watertight Fulham defence granted Tottenham the odd glimpse of goal. And that’s all that Harry Kane needed.
There’s plenty of talk at the moment about Kane’s contract, with it expiring next summer. If Kane is on the market, he won’t be short of admirers as one of the great strikers. And he proved his worth once again, on his 300th appearance for Spurs, as he turned a half-chance into a goal.
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It came in first-half injury time as Kane collected the ball on the edge of the box. Side-on to goal, he shifted the ball onto his right foot, had a few inches to aim for in the corner and found it, leaving goalkeeper Bernd Leno with no hope. The goal saw him draw level with the late, great Greaves on 266 goals for Spurs — it was also his 199th in the Premier League.
Kane nearly added a second in the 58th minute as his bullet header was well-saved by Leno.
Whatever the future holds, Kane is a Tottenham legend. His record in front of goal is truly remarkable and Spurs will be keeping everything crossed they can persuade him to pen a new contract.
2. Spurs’ mixed bag performance sums up their subpar season
This win should go some way to helping restore some of the good feeling around Tottenham.
The fans let their frustration known at various stages on Monday as they sang demands for change in club leadership. It probably hasn’t helped that Spurs manager Antonio Conte is facing questions about his future most weeks with his deal up at the end of the season.
On Monday, though, we saw both sides of this season’s Spurs. The first-half performance looked like they were lacking in confidence. Their inability to play out from the back in the first half was baffling — the forwards were starved of any ball, Kane had just three touches and one completed pass in the first 25 minutes. Spurs forward Son Heung-min was incredibly lucky to have not been sent off with a red card in the first half, as well.
