Spurs win as Kane outshines Lukaku
Print Edition
HARRY Kane upstaged Romelu Lukaku to assert himself as the English Premier League’s sharpest striker, netting twice in Tottenham Hotspurs’ 3-2 victory over Everton yesterday.
Kane claimed top spot on England’s scoring leaderboard, while Tottenham fortified its hold on second place in the standings with a ninth successive home league win, moving to within seven points of leader Chelsea, which has 63 points and plays West Ham United today.
Despite missing 10 games of the campaign through injury, Kane has amassed 24 goals in all competitions — only four behind last season’s haul with more than two months remaining.
Kane had already sent Tottenham into a two-goal lead, including a spectacular long-range dipping strike, when Lukaku finally managed his first attempt on target in the 80th minute. But the Belgium striker, who entered the game level with Kane on 17 league goals, did become the first away player to score at White Hart Lane in the league since December.
Tottenham had been cruising but it was a nervy conclusion. Even after Dele Alli clipped Harry Winks’ free kick into the net in the 90th, Everton immediately reduced the deficit again at the other end from a set-piece that Enner Valencia completed.
But Tottenham held on to end a nine-game unbeaten run for seventh-place Everton (44).
On Saturday, Arsene Wenger chose one of the toughest periods of his Arsenal tenure to make one of his most reckless team selections.
Dropping Alexis Sanchez, possibly the best player in the EPL, for an away game against Liverpool, a direct rival for a Champions League qualification place, may come to be a defining moment of a season that is starting to unravel for Arsenal.
Wenger realized his error at halftime, throwing Sanchez on for the second half, but Liverpool was 2-0 ahead by then after goals by Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, and on its way to a 3-1 victory that lifted Juergen Klopp’s team above Arsenal and into third place on 52 points.
“A decision like that is not easy to make,” Wenger said, “but you have to stand up for it.”
That Arsenal improved drastically with Sanchez on the field — he set up Danny Welbeck for Arsenal’s goal that made it 2-1 — will be all the more galling to Arsenal’s increasingly disgruntled fan base. It also provided more ammunition for the “Wenger Out” brigade, which is becoming all the more vocal as the long-serving manager weighs up whether to sign a new deal.
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