Kane out to put boot in
HARRY KANE enjoys a good Golden Boot tear-up.
Three seasons ago he saw off Sergio Aguero and Jamie Vardy to win the award for the Premier League’s top scorer.
A year later Kane beat Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa to retain the coveted trophy.
It took the extraordinary genius of Mo Salah to deny him last season. But even then Kane made up for it by beating the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann to win the World Cup Golden Boot.
So Tottenham’s England captain is relishing yet another Premier League shootout with his newest opponent, Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabon striker tops the charts with 10 goals, one ahead of Kane.
Aubameyang struck twice last Sunday as the Gunners came out on top in the north London derby. But Kane, who netted against Southampton on Wednesday, is ready to show his class again with the going about to get tough.
“When you’ve done it on the biggest stage of them all, the World Cup, you can look back and gain confidence from that,” he said.
“Since I’ve been in the Premier League it has had some of the best strikers in the world. Aubameyang is at the top end at the moment.
“There’s quite a few on eight or nine goals so it’s important for me to carry on doing what I’m doing. There’s still a lot of the season to go, but I’m happy with where I am.”
With being in Aubameyang’s slipstream, there is more fanfare around the Arsenal man than Spurs’ favourite son. Kane, however, does not have a problem with that.
“When you set a standard year after year then maybe people aren’t so surprised when you score goals,” he said. “If you score one goal then maybe people are expecting you to score two or three.
“I’ve been on good form. This is the sort of period I like where you get into a rhythm, into a routine, so that helps.” On December 19 Kane will get the chance to avenge the 4-2 loss last Sunday at the Emirates.
Unai Emery’s men celebrated with selfies afterwards and Kane cannot wait for this month’s Carabao Cup quarter-final. “Revenge is a strong word but we’ll be motivated,” he said.
GOLDEN BOOT RACE
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ............... (Arsenal)
9 8
Harry Kane
“It was a heated derby, it’s what you want a derby to be like, you just don’t want to be on the losing end of it.
“It’s an opportunity for us to get one back if we can. That’s still a couple of weeks away but I’m sure the fans will be looking forward to it and we will as well.”
Tottenham go to Leicester in the league on Saturday night. Kane is delighted that, despite losing to the Gunners, his club have ended a crucial week still in the Champions League, in the top four and still above Arsenal. “Credit to them, they were probably the better team on the day, but it was important for us to dust it off and get back to winning ways,” he said.
“It was a tough week, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Arsenal.
It doesn’t really stop and there’s another tough one on Saturday.”
Raheem Sterling
(Tottenham) (Man City) Callum Wilson ..... (Bournemouth) Sergio Aguero ............ (Man City) Glenn Murray ............. (Brighton)