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February 8, 2021

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Kane returns to spur Tottenham

Source: Agencies | 00:00 UTC+8 February 8, 2021 | Print Edition

Harry Kane scored on his return from injury to help Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion yesterday and end a three-match losing run in the English Premier League.

The England skipper’s return after missing the last two games with an ankle injury was sooner than expected and Tottenham’s talisman was quickly back in the groove.

After missing a couple of chances in the first half Kane struck in the 54th minute to move joint second on Tottenham’s all-time scoring list alongside Bobby Smith with 208 goals.

Four minutes later Son Heung-min drove in Tottenham’s second after a strong run by recalled Lucas Moura.

Tottenham moved up to seventh place with 36 points from 22 games, above Chelsea on goal difference before its match against bottom club Sheffield United later.

Sam Allardyce’s West Brom is 19th with 12 points from 23 games, 11 points below 17th-placed Burnley, and its hopes of avoiding relegation are looking forlorn.

Kane and Son have both scored 13 league goals this season and again showed how invaluable they are to Tottenham.

When Kane had to be substituted at halftime in the defeat by Liverpool there were fears the striker might be facing a longer spell on the sidelines and the Spurs gloom deepened with a toothless loss to Chelsea in midweek.

But his return proved a huge boost as Spurs produced a dominant display, albeit against struggling opposition, to revive their challenge for the top four.

“We’ve had a couple of bad results so it was very important to get back to winning ways,” Son said.

“Harry is one of the best strikers in the world so we missed him, even if it was only a couple of games, and I’m happy that he scored again. I miss him.”

It took Kane a little while to find his range.

He had two chances in quick succession in the first half but unusually failed to hit the target with either.

He did work West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone with a powerful effort from Moura’s pass but the visitors reached halftime level and could have even been ahead had Mbaye Diagne not headed straight at Hugo Lloris.

The first time Kane got an opportunity in the second half he made no mistake. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s threaded the ball through the West Brom defense and Kane took one touch before passing a right-footed shot into the net.

Tottenham suddenly looked fluent and doubled its lead when Moura made a surging run from the halfway line and played in Son whose right-footed shot had too much power for Johnstone.

Had Diagne’s header not been rightly ruled out for offside it might have complicated Tottenham’s afternoon, but Jose Mourinho’s side was a comfortable winner.

“Kane is a special player, but today they showed everyone how together they are and how much they were suffering with the bad results,” Mourinho said.

Amid criticism of Mourinho’s negative tactics and talk of rifts with several players, there is a long way to go before seventh-placed Tottenham is completely back on track.

Only three wins from the last 12 league games before this weekend — the same sequence that saw Mourinho’s predecessor Mauricio Pochettino sacked — had left the Portuguese coach in the spotlight.

“I’m not used to losing three matches in a row and Tottenham is the same, so we have to admit that it was not a week where we felt very comfortable,” Mourinho said.

“But I was very positive because what the players showed in this game, I knew that they would. We played very well but I’m speaking about the mentality they brought to the game.

“The players are together, they are committed and they went to the pitch only with one thing in their mind, to win the game.”

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