Clinical Kane cuts through Leicester to dent
If ever one match encapsulated how the three-month coronavirus lockdown will have influenced the final Premier League table, then this was it.
Tottenham Hotspur were heading for mid-table before the suspension of football, and Harry Kane was looking at returning from longterm injury in the club’s last home game against Leicester City as a best-case scenario.
Son Heung-min was also out and, although Leicester had started to wobble, they would never have envisaged they would be looking at entering the Europa League with Jose Mourinho’s team.
But that is exactly what is unfolding as Kane, looking sharper than he has for some time, scored twice in a victory that had consequences for both Europa League and Champions League qualification.
A third successive victory meant Spurs moved up to sixth, which would ensure them a Europa League spot, although Arsenal’s progression into the FA Cup final could rob them of a place if they drop back down to seventh and the Gunners go on to collect the trophy.
“Clearly we are one of the teams with more points during this period after the break,” Mourinho said. “Now we have to fight to finish sixth. We have to win and that is difficult and wait for something in our other opponents.
“Seventh is what we can achieve without dependence on the others. What we are doing and what we are improving is very important for next season.”
Leicester, however, look increasingly likely to fall out of the top four. It will not be lost on the supporters of Chelsea and Manchester United that Mourinho, as the former manager of both clubs, has done them a huge favour.
Third-placed Chelsea and fifthplaced United each have a game in hand over Leicester and now have their Champions League fate in their own hands.
Just as Spurs had been without Kane and Son before lockdown, Leicester are paying the price for key absentees since the restart. James Maddison has been missed in midfield and yesterday it was the loss of three of Leicester’s regular back four that cost them dearly.
Without injured duo Ricardo Pereira and Ben Chilwell, plus the suspended Caglar Soyuncu, the visitors were taken apart by a clinical Spurs’ attack, with Kane and Son at their devastating best, and Lucas Moura showing his quality.
The fact Kane’s brace meant he has scored 17 Premier League goals and 23 in total for Tottenham in a season in which he has been out for so long further underlines his world-class ability.
“It is difficult for me to compare strikers, but I had almost in every club some of the best,” said Mourinho. “Of course, Harry is second to none. It’s just different qualities. As a striker, as a goalscorer, a team player and a leader, he is fantastic.
“It is difficult to make him better but the better the team is, the better he can be. He is an amazing professional and works very well. He cannot play any better. He is a fantastic striker and Tottenham is so lucky to have him.”
Kane’s second, Tottenham’s third, was the pick of the goals. Exciting teenager Luke Thomas, in for Chilwell, was robbed of possession by Moura who passed for Kane to carry the ball into the area and the striker stepped inside Ryan Bennett before curling a shot past Kasper Schmeichel.
By half time, the Foxes were already three goals behind and the game was effectively over.
It had taken just six minutes for Spurs to go ahead, when Son’s shot took a big deflection off James Justin, who has been deputising for Pereira, to beat Schmeichel.
Leicester could count themselves unlucky to go behind and were similarly unfortunate that good efforts from Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez were kept out by a combination of desperate defending and good goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris.
But the visitors were the makers of their own downfall for the first of Kane’s two goals in the 37th minute, as, from a Youri Tielemans corner, Thomas lost the ball to Son and Spurs broke from their own half to ruthless effect. The South Korean passed to Giovani Lo Celso, who in turn set Moura away down the left and the Brazilian set up Kane.
Three minutes later, Kane netted again to make sure both sets of supporters spent most of the second half contemplating what a Europa League campaign might look like next season.