A sense of relief after 1,000 minutes of pain

HARRY KANE expressed his relief after ending his extraordinary run of over 1,000 minutes without a goal in the month of August.

Tottenham beat promoted Fulham 3-1 at Wembley to continue their perfect start to the Premier League season. They opened the scoring through Lucas Moura ra before being pegged d back by Aleksandar Mitrovic. A stunning free-kick from Kieran Trippier reasserted Tottenham’s advantage before Kane added gloss to the scoreline.

For Kane in particular, it was the e end of a personal ordeal as he scored a Premier League goal in August for the first time in 15 matches and after missing the goal with 49 attempts during that time.

He scored in the 77th minute, having already hit the crossbar.

Kane said: ‘It looked like it would be one of those days for me, but that is the game of a striker. As a striker you want to score in every game so whenever you have something like this on your back you want to score.’

After the game Kane jokingly posted on social media, saying: ‘Wish every game could be in August!’

Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino returned defender Toby Alderweireld to his starting XI after a summer of speculation about a possible move away from the club. The Belgian has refused to extend his contract at Spurs with his existing deal set to expire next summer. Pochettino reiterated his desire for players to be committed to the club.

Pochettino (left) s said: ‘I want players with commitment to the team. I can understand that if someone is not playing they are disappointed but the rules of football is only having 11 players. Why didn’t the English people in t the past say 22 players or 24? I understand that football has become a big business and that you have to protect assets. If you’re not happy, we do have the opportunity to fix it. You are not going to put pressure on me, the agents are not going to put pressure on my decision, nobody is going to blackmail me.’