Harry Kane remains a goal machine that could allow himself a raised eyebrow as Erling Haaland dominates all the discussion in that field – but few in his tally have been as poignant as Tottenham’s winner at Brighton on Saturday.
With a clever first-half header the England captain secured a victory that meant so much more than three points and a swift Premier League response to a painful north London derby defeat.
It is usually all about the numbers with Kane, who expects to shrug off an ankle knock ahead of this week’s Champions League return against Eintracht Frankfurt.
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An eighth league goal in nine league games, his joint-best start in the Premier League and good enough to be top of any scoring chart pre-Haaland.
A sixth in the last eight league games against Brighton. A fourth in five at the Amex. And now just 10 short of Jimmy Greaves’ Spurs record of 266 goals.
But Kane’s gesture of pointing to the sky after his 22nd-minute strike allied to the post-match tributes for fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone, who died last week of leukaemia, told a different story.
It had been an emotionally gruelling couple of days for the devastated Antonio Conte, his players and staff after learning of the death of their much-loved and respected colleague and friend. Conte and several staff travelled to the funeral in Naples on Sunday.
And Kane, 29, said: “It has been a really tough week. Gian Piero was a special man. I’ve only known him for a year but he just affected so many lives around the training ground.
“It’s difficult to describe how much he meant to everyone. We did what we could here to give his family something.
“I’m really proud of the boys, the way we dug deep. It was a difficult game and after a tough week it was nice to end it positively.”
On his own scoring form, Kane is rightly satisfied- and not yet ready to concede a Golden Boot he has won three times to Manchester City’s Haaland, with many having already given it to the Norwegian.
Kane added: “I feel good. It’s really nice to be scoring in most of the games, especially when they are winning goals. The golden boot is something you can talk about in April time, there’s a long way to go in the season.
“We’ve had great strikers in the Premier League, and obviously Erling has had a really good start to the season. As for me, as a striker you want to be in a good rhythm when you’re coming up to a major tournament.”
Brighton had marginally the better of this match in new head coach Roberto De Zerbi’s first home game but could not make pressure count.
Hugo Lloris saved well from Moises Caicedo and Danny Welbeck – who also twice hit shots wide, as did Solly March. Lewis Dunk headed just over from a corner. Conte recalled Matt Doherty, who impressed at right wing-back for Spurs.
And the Irishman added his tribute to Ventrone, and also reminded everyone not to forget Kane’s credentials in all the frenzied focus on Haaland.
Doherty said: “The last few days have been brutal. Gian Piero brought a smile to every player’s face the second you saw him, it didn’t matter what mood you were in. He’s going to be a huge loss.
“With the goal, Harry Kane’s done it for how many years now on the spin? He just keeps going about his business, scoring goals almost every game. For me, he’s the best striker in the world.”
Doherty, 30, also played down any suggestions of a rift with Conte after his first competitive start since April.
Conte said last week about Doherty: “Now, I am not seeing him in the right way to start the game. I am not stupid. I don’t want to lose.”
But with Emerson Royal suspended for the game at Brighton the Ireland international grabbed his opportunity and insisted the manager’s remarks had been misrepresented.
He said: “Some of the lads, and one of my best friends, said that it was taken out of context.
“I didn’t read the whole thing, but they said to me that it was, and I trust their opinion. know what he expects of me. I took no offence to the comments at all, it didn’t spur me on.
“I’ve started to feel good over the last four to six weeks. It was a serious injury and it’s taken a bit longer than I would have liked to recover.”
Brighton’s new head coach Roberto De Zerbi insists that it will be evolution rather than revolution at the Amex.
And after a first home game in charge, producing a result he strongly was “unfair”, the 43-year-old Italian believes some tweaks in style from the Graham Potter era are already evident.
De Zerbi said: “When you arrive and the team is already in fourth place in the table, either you are crazy or you need to be very brave.
“Because there is an inner fight – you have the will to change something, and the thought to maybe not change that much. it is about finding the right balance to implement your ideas.
“And I think you have seen already in the two games something from my side. You have to build your own ideas, because it is not good to copy.”
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