Harry Kane fired Tottenham to the top of the Premier League as the striker’s late goal sealed a 1-0 win against struggling West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho’s side knocked Southampton out of first place thanks to Kane’s dramatic intervention at the Hawthorns. His 150th Premier League goal was perfectly timed after Tottenham had laboured to break down stubborn Albion.
Having scored his 200th Tottenham goal in all competitions against Ludogorets on Thursday, Kane now has 13 goals this season.
Tottenham are one point clear at the top, but they would be passed later on Sunday by Leicester if they beat Wolves, or Liverpool if they win at Manchester City.
Mourinho started with Kane, Gareth Bale and Son Heung-min in his front three for the first time, and while the latter two were quiet, Kane was on hand to clinch Tottenham’s third successive league victory.
Tottenham are now unbeaten in their last seven league games but were below their best for long periods against a West Brom team still without a league win this term.
Mourinho has had a recent habit of making social media posts that take a swipe at his players when they under-perform, so it would have been no surprise if the Tottenham boss was thinking of another acerbic message until Kane came to the rescue.
Instead, Mourinho leapt to his feet on the touchline to celebrate a win that emphasised Tottenham’s determined attitude.
West Brom had suffered a pre-match blow when Branislav Ivanovic and Matheus Pereira were ruled out after both tested positive for the coronavirus.
– Dramatic finale –
Tottenham should have taken the lead with their first incisive attack. Bale’s pass picked out Tanguy Ndombele and he worked it towards the unmarked Son in the West Brom area.
But the South Korean took too long to get his shot away, eventually managing a weak effort that Semi Ajayi scrambled clear near the goal-line.
Karlan Grant wasted a good chance to give West Brom a shock lead when his close-range effort from Darnell Furlong’s cross drifted wide.
Amid reports that Charlton boss Lee Bowyer is being lined up as a replacement for Bilic, the Albion manager couldn’t complain about his side’s commitment. They made it hard for Tottenham’s vaunted front three to thrive and had enough invention to threaten occasionally themselves.
Kyle Bartley headed over from Filip Krovinovic’s free-kick and Jake Livermore was just off-target with a rising drive.
It was only the second time this season Tottenham had managed just one shot in the first half of a Premier League game and Mourinho’s men nearly fell behind immediately after the interval when Dara O’Shea nodded wide from Krovinovic’s corner.
There was nearly an hour gone when Tottenham had their first shot on target as Sergio Reguilon’s long-range blast was pushed away by Albion keeper Sam Johnstone.
Son saw his strike held by Johnstone moments later, while Bartley made a last-ditch block to deny Reguilon.
Albion still carried a threat and Conor Gallagher smashed a 25-yard strike just wide before Lloris made a superb save to keep out Grant’s header from Krovinovic’s corner.
Mourinho sent on Carlos Vinicius in the closing stages and the striker’s stinging shot drew a good save from Johnstone.
(AFP)
