Hungry Harry’s heroics needed
TOUGH TASK AHEAD: UNBEATEN CHELSEA AWAIT SPURS
Boss has done a great job to keep his side in contention.
Tottenham will be banking on more Harry Kane heroics at the start of a potentially season-defining week against Chelsea after their talisman fired England to a dramatic last-gasp victory at Wembley.
Kane scored the winner last weekend to relegate Croatia in the Nations League and exact some revenge for England’s semifinal defeat at the World Cup.
“He is the best goalscorer in the world ... his hold-up play, as well as the goals he brings, is critical,” said England manager Gareth Southgate after England clinched a place in the Nations League Finals.
“He is so hungry to lead the team even further.”
Spurs, though, have suffered the after-effects of a demanding summer for most of Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.
Kane is one of just three Spurs players not to have picked up a muscle injury from Tottenham’s 12-strong World Cup contingent, nine of whom were involved on the final weekend of the tournament less than a month before the new season began.
Despite battling fatigue and fitness concerns, added to the uncertainty over when the club’s new stadium will be finished, Pochettino has admirably kept Spurs on track for a top-four finish for the fourth straight season.
Maurizio Sarri has rightly earned rave reviews for his 18game unbeaten start to life as Chelsea boss. Yet, should Spurs inflict Sarri’s first defeat, they will leapfrog Chelsea into third, thanks to their impressive start to the Premier League season.
After Chelsea, Pochettino’s men must beat Inter Milan in midweek to retain any hope of Champions League progress, before facing Arsenal for the first time in the North London derby next weekend.
With a good week, Spurs can re-establish themselves as top dogs in London, having finished above both Arsenal and Chelsea for the first time in 23 years last season, and move above Inter into second place in Champions League Group B.
Spurs remain heavily reliant on Kane’s goals.
Despite early-season concerns over his own post-World Cup fatigue, the England captain has scored 10 times in 16 club appearances this season and only Sergio Aguero, Eden Hazard and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have more than Kane’s tally of six Premier League goals.
However, when Kane does not score, Spurs struggle. Four of Tottenham’s five defeats in all competitions have come when the World Cup’s Golden Boot-winner has failed to find the net.
Spurs team-mate Erik Lamela said earlier this season that Kane could not shoulder the goal-scoring burden alone, adding: “All the attacking players need to score.” – United.