With two goals against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, Harry Kane helped Tottenham Hotspur to edge their way back into the top-four race following on from the disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa over the weekend.
It was also a big moment in Kane’s seemingly unstoppable march towards the landmark of becoming the Premier League’s all-time greatest goalscorer. His brace at Selhurst Park takes him to 198 goals, still 62 shy of Alan Shearer’s total of 260 but with lots of time on his side.
In fact, at the age of 29 years and 161 days, Kane has 198 goals compared to Shearer’s 167 at the same stage. That 31-goal difference is reduced, though, when you consider that Shearer scored 23 for Southampton in the days of the old First Division Championship.
READ MORE:
- Kane's scores twice on 300th PL appearance
- Shearer: The Newcastle fan turned club hero
- Spurs 5/2 to finish in top four - Betfred*
But on his 300th Premier League appearance last night, Kane finally caught up to Shearer in their game-by-game comparison. At every 50-game marker prior to Wednesday, the Spurs striker has trailed Shearer’s tally after the same number of appearances. Indeed, after 100 Premier League games Kane had only 59 goals compared to the former Newcastle United skipper’s 79. Only when he scored twice at Nottingham Forest in August did Kane overtake Shearer’s goal record at the same point in his Premier League career for the first time.
And the England captain’s goals at Palace took him to 198 in 300 games, which contrasts favourably to Shearer’s 196, meaning he needs to match Shearer’s output over the last four seasons of his career in order to set a new Premier League record.
Shearer’s 300th game in the modern era’s top flight came on March 6, 2002 in a 3-0 loss away to Liverpool with Newcastle, and he played 141 more league games before retiring in the summer of 2006 at the age of 35.
Kane is likely to play on for more than four years, meaning that, so long as he steers clear of any major injuries and doesn’t make a move abroad at any point, he is well on course to reach at least 261 Premier League goals.
The 29-year-old is also maintaining a great level in front of goal, netting 32 goals in his last 50 games against Shearer’s 21 at the same point.
The stats all point to Kane surpassing Shearer in time. And while the 1995 Premier League winner with Blackburn Rovers suffered two major injuries during his career – snapping his ACL against Leeds United at Ewood Park in ’92 and damaging his knee when getting his studs caught in the turf during a 1997 pre-season friendly against Chelsea – Kane has yet to miss more than eight games through any single injury since making it into Spurs’ first team.
It appears an inevitability to this point. Harry Kane will be the Premier League top marksman of all time. It’s just a matter of when, now.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
