Kane’s brace turns the tide for Conte
Finally Spurs end run of conceding first and kickstart fight for top four
Harry Kane, who else? When Tottenham desperately needed a lift, when antonio Conte needed a flash of inspiration it arrived from the same reliable source.
Where would they be without him? It’s a dilemma they may have to confront soon but, for the time being, they can just be grateful for his presence and his precision in front of goal.
Kane now has 198 goals in 300 Premier League games and his opener at Crystal Palace, a header at the back post, ensured Spurs scored the first goal of the game for the first time since mid-October.
His second of the night was a classic finish, with one touch to control a pass from Bryan Gil, and a second to fire it into the far corner. Maybe this will cheer up Conte as he fights his inner demons about whether he wants to stay at Spurs or search for a better option when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Kane is the most compelling reason to stay. Unfortunately, his contract runs out next year so nothing is so straightforward.
But this welcome victory after an emphatic second-half performance will bring some peace to the club before they go into a tough four-match sequence of Premier League games against arsenal, Fulham and Manchester City twice, after Saturday’s Fa Cup tie against Portsmouth.
Matt Doherty added the third and Son Heung-min scored the fourth, a huge relief for him, who has found goals hard to come by since winning the Golden Boot last season.
Conte’s team were booed off after losing at home to aston Villa on a miserable new year’s Day but his opportunities to make changes were limited by a cluster of injury problems. Dejan Kulusevski, richarlison, rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Moura were all unavailable.
There were recalls for eric Dier at the back and for Oliver Skipp in midfield where yves Bissouma was serving a ban for five yellow cards.
Spurs opened brightly enough. Gil and Doherty found space on the right without turning these promising situations into anything like a viable a goal threat. Gil jinked inside and curled one effort at goal with his left foot but Vicente Guaita saved comfortably. Otherwise the Palace keeper had nothing to do in the first half.
Conte had called for togetherness in what is his stickiest spell as Spurs boss, and the away fans came together to chorus his name in the opening minutes, although not before chanting for chairman Daniel Levy, who was here at Selhurst Park, to quit the club.
Palace gathered threat on the counter attack as the first half developed. First Michael Olise flickered into life and then Wilf Zaha found his rhythm wriggling between Skipp and Gil and moving dangerously into Tottenham’s penalty area.
With the back three stretched, Zaha shaped to shoot and pulled a pass square to Jordan ayew, who made a yard of space to beat Clement Lenglet and tested Hugo Lloris with a firm drive, fizzed across the surface. Lloris responded well, making a fine save, low down a yard to his right with a strong right hand. even so, Palace took heart. Joachim andersen fired narrowly wide from distance after collecting a poor clearance by Skipp and evading Pierre-emile Hojbjerg. Then Olise cut inside and saw another effort on the angle deflect wide of the far post.
For 20 minutes before half-time the home team were well on top. ebere eze became more influential and there was menace about Patrick Vieira’s team as the three creative players behind ayew started to combine with ease and cause problems for Spurs.
Cheick Doucoure drove them on from deep and the second half started with Dier to the rescue with a challenge on ayew after a poor touch by Cristian romero as he tried to pull a towering ball out of the sky on the top of his foot. Perhaps romero has been spending too much time in the company of Lionel Messi.
But Palace were hit on the break when Son linked up with Gil to find Ivan Perisic on the left and his cross was nodded in at the back post by Kane, on his 300th Premier League appearance.
It completely floored the home team. Kane fired in the second moments later. an exchange of passes with Gil, a fabulous first touch and an even better second touch, fired low with precision inside the far post.
Son should have made it three. Clean through, he was unable to beat Guaita but he set up Doherty for the third and finally claimed his goal to make it 4-0 and put Spurs two points behind Manchester United in fourth.
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-2-3-1): Guaita 6; Clyne 5, Andersen 6, Guehi 5.5, Ward 5; Doucoure 6, Schlupp 5.5 (Mateta 61min, 5); Olise 6 (Edouard 73, 5), Eze 6 (Hughes 74, 5), Zaha 6; Ayew 6.5.
Booked: Schlupp.
Manager: Patrick Vieira 6. TOTTENHAM (3-4-2-1): Lloris 7.5; Romero 5.5, Dier 6.5, Lenglet 6 (Davies 86); Doherty 6.5 (Royal 78, 5), Skipp 5.5 (Sarr 66, 6), Hojbjerg 6, Perisic 7 (White 86); Son 6.5, Gil 7.5; KANE 8.
Scorers: Kane 48, 53, Doherty 68, Son 72. Booked: Skipp, Gil.
Manager: Antonio Conte 7.
Referee: Michael Oliver 6.5.