Tottenham Hotspur 3 Everton 2
Tottenham: Kane (20', 56'), Alli (90'+2)
Everton: Lukaku (81'), E Valencia (90'+3)
Man of the match: Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham)
Gareth Barry back-pedalled and Idrissa Gueye stood off, which was the only invitation Harry Kane needed.
After being given time and space around 30 yards from goal, the Tottenham Hotspur striker fired a fierce shot past Joel Robles to put his team ahead with the game’s first effort on target. Even with just 20 minutes on the clock, it proved to be the beginning of the end for Everton.
This match was billed as the battle of the goalscorers, as the Premier League’s two most in-form strikers attempted to spearhead their side to victory at White Hart Lane.
Everton’s Romelu Lukaku entered the game looking to continue a purple patch which had seen him find the net eight times in his eight league appearances since the turn of the year. Kane, meanwhile, headed into Sunday’s encounter having scored a remarkable three hat-tricks in his last nine outings in all competitions.
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There had been much debate in the build-up about which of the 23-year-olds has the brighter future ahead of him. Only time will reveal the answer to that question, but it was Kane who came out on top in this weekend’s head-to-head.
His opening effort was both superbly struck and, from an Everton perspective, entirely preventable. Things could have easily got worse for the visitors soon after, as Tottenham poured forward in a bid to double their advantage and kill the game off before half-time. Kane showed tremendous footwork to jink his way past Leighton Baines before being denied by Robles, while Christian Eriksen dragged a shot wide and Victor Wanyama saw his deflected shot come back off the post.
Ronald Koeman’s men just about weathered the storm until the break, but they struggled to create many opportunities of their own. Lukaku was often isolated up top and, with three centre-halves in Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier, Tottenham seemed to have an extra man at the back at all times.
Both teams started rather slowly after the break, but it was the hosts who grabbed the all-important second goal through Kane. Mousa Dembele and Dele Alli did brilliantly to force a turnover high up the pitch, and their teammate made no mistake by slotting the ball under Robles and into the net.
A two-goal lead was an accurate reflection of Tottenham’s dominance up to that point, but Lukaku took full advantage of a slip from the otherwise excellent Vertonghen to halve Everton’s deficit with nine minutes remaining. Although it was a clinical finish from the Belgian, the regret for Everton was that he only managed one other shot all afternoon.
Kane and Lukaku then took a back seat as Alli and Enner Valencia got in on the act late on. The former flicked Harry Winks’s terrific pass from a free-kick into the far corner, before the latter swept home Ross Barkley’s inswinging delivery with a neat side-foot volley.
Both were fine efforts, but there was little doubt that Kane had been the key difference-maker in front of goal.
“He’s just a one-season wonder,” Tottenham fans had chanted shortly after his second of the afternoon, ironically referencing the view held by some that the England international would struggle to replicate the success of his breakout campaign in 2014/15.
Such doubts have been comprehensively dispelled since then, with Kane’s Premier League goal tally now standing at a mightily impressive 68 in 105 games. On the evidence of the last few weeks, the more pertinent question is how many more seasons Tottenham will be able to hold on to their star centre-forward.
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