TOTTENHAM 1-0 WOLVES: Harry Kane’s back-post header sends Spurs top of the Premier League
As the greatest striker of his day looked on from the stands, how fitting that Tottenham’s Harry Kane scored a goal to further his case as the greatest No 9 on the planet right now.
He might not have the iconic haircut or Samba-style skills of Brazilian Ronaldo but this was another week, another record for Kane.
Nobody has scored more Premier League goals for a single club than Kane, while he leaped past Sergio Aguero into fourth on the all-time scorers list.
And perhaps more importantly for Spurs, the goal came after what was far from a polished performance, from Kane or any of Antonio Conte’s players.
Tottenham Hotspur have officially gone top of the Premier League after beating Wolves 1-0 at home on Saturday afternoon
It was Harry Kane who broke the deadlock by finding the back of the net for Tottenham in the 64th minute of the game
The England international scored a header at the back post after Perisic managed to flick the ball on from the near post
Kane (right) has now netted 185 Premier League goals for Spurs, overtaking Sergio Aguero with Manchester City
That’s what the best strikers do: score with their only real chance of the game. And pertinently for title rivals, this is what the best teams do: grind out wins even on bad days.
Kane’s goal might have looked like the easiest of his 185 in this league but, by many ways, it was typical of the England captain – in the right place at the right time to head into an empty net at the back post, as we have seen him do so many times before.
Reaction to last week’s draw at Chelsea was overly dominated by the ‘Battle of the Bridge’, perhaps masking over a subpar Tottenham performance. Conte will know that there is still much work to do after another below-average display here. But would Spurs have got four points from those fixtures in the pre-Conte era? Almost certainly not.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte was allowed on the sideline despite his spat with Thomas Tuchel during their clash with Chelsea
Ivan Perisic made his first start and it was interesting to observe, with the Croatian virtually playing as a fourth forward
New boy Goncalo Guedes made his first start after signing from Valencia 10 days ago and looked sharp, playing the full 90
At times in the last five years, they have looked like a team that could beat anyone on their day. Yet they have never seriously been in a title race due to slip-ups against mid-table opposition and a lack of consistency.
That’s changed now, and as Spurs went momentarily top of the table, one could only wonder if this is the year they can make a genuine charge to challenge Manchester City and Liverpool’s duopoly on the league.
Because of that, there seems to be a new level of expectation at Tottenham these days, and this was a fixture which fans would accept nothing but three points from.
Spurs were poor in the first half, though – lethargic in possession and clearly lacking a creative spark in midfield.
Ivan Perisic made his first start and was interesting to observe, with the Croatian virtually playing as a fourth forward alongside the front three.
He made a couple of darting runs in behind but was not picked out, and he played a handful of threatening crosses into dangerous areas.
During an early injury stoppage, Perisic pulled a ball-boy for a chat and seemed to gesticulate for the young lad to help Spurs keep up the tempo by supplying throw-in takers at high speed.
But Spurs created nothing until the last minute of the first half, a looping Harry Kane header from one of Perisic’s crosses, which was smartly stopped by Jose Sa.
That was their only attempt of the half, and the shots column read Tottenham 1, Wolves 11.
Indeed, Wolves were the better side and also had more possession. New boy Goncalo Guedes made his first start after signing from Valencia 10 days ago and looked sharp.
Guedes got in behind one time but could not sort his feet out for the shot, while he drove Wolves forward with searing runs on the counter-attack.
Pedro Neto snatched at a loose, deflected ball in the box and pulled a shot wide, and Guedes glanced a header just wide of Hugo Lloris’ goal.
Each of these moments were met with loud groans from the anxious home fans, and roars of encouragement from a sea of golden shirts in the away end – fair play to each of them for fighting through train strikes to trek down to London.
But Spurs came out swinging in the second half, and a Harry Kane header hit the bar just minutes after the restart.
They continued to apply the pressure, with Kane going close again after Dejan Kulusevski went on one of his trademark dazzling runs, and then Son Heung-min rattled the near post.
Wolves did trouble Hugo Lloris as the Tottenham keeper was forced to pull of some impressive saves to keep a clean sheet
Nathan Collins also had a good game – providing several crucial blocks to stop the likes of Kane adding to his tally
But then came the decisive moment, as Perisic flicked on a corner and Kane headed home at the back post to make it 1-0.
Not a lot happened after that, as Conte used his five substitutions wisely and Tottenham professionally saw out the win.
The only men standing above Kane in the all-time Premier League scorers list now are Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole. Keep an eye over your shoulders, chaps.
Relive the action with Sportsmail’s live blog for the Premier League clash between Tottenham and Wolves.
