Spurs moved to within six points of the top four with a 2-0 win over London rivals West Ham at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Having been held to a 1-1 draw against Manchester United in their first game of the restart, Jose Mourinho’s side were bolstered by the return of Dele Alli and Lucas Moura, the Portuguese boss having complained about a lack of attacking options against his former employers.
While Spurs had been happy to sit back against United, they dominated against the Hammers, and thought they had taken the lead late in the first half through a well taken Heung Min Son effort, though his strike was ruled out after VAR adjudged the South Korean to be a fraction offside.
The hosts did eventually take the lead on 64 minutes, West Ham’s Tomas Soucek turning into his own net from a Giovani Lo Celso corner, though replays showed that that too should have probably been ruled out for a handball by Davinson Sanchez.
The game was wrapped up with eight minutes to play, Harry Kane getting back amongst the goals on his 200th Premier League appearance for the club, racing in on goal before firing confidently into the bottom right corner following a fine through ball through from Son.
Speaking after netting his first goal since December, Kane insisted he is feeling as fit as any other point in his career, despite concerns after being a peripheral figure in Friday’s game.
“I think as a striker it’s what you want to do, score goals and help win the game. I’m happy to get on the scoresheet today. It was nice to finish it off at the end,” Kane told Sky Sports.
“When you’ve been out for over six months, it’s about getting that feeling back on the pitch. You can train all you want but being on the pitch is different.
“I’m in good shape, I’ve been working very hard, through my rehab, through the lockdown, so I feel as fit as I ever have done before. I’ve been able to rest, recover and work on a few things I hadn’t been able to over the years, so I feel in good shape.
“Scoring is one of the best feelings in the world, and it’s been a while since I’ve done it, so it’s great to do that.”
Jose Mourinho had reeled off a long list of the strikers he’s managed and their respective goalscoring records during the buildup to the game, and the former Chelsea boss was impressed with his frontman’s performance and fitness following his return to goalscoring form.
Harry Kane has scored a PL goal:
??
✓ Monday
✓ Tuesday
✓ Wednesday
✓ Thursday
✓ Friday
✓ Saturday
✓ Sunday??
✓ January
✓ February
✓ March
✓ April
✓ May
✓ June
✓ August (eventually)
✓ September
✓ October
✓ November
✓ DecemberJust one month to cross off. pic.twitter.com/8XmvsSM13D
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 23, 2020
“I’m happy for him. Again, he worked a lot,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“He has been phenomenal in lockdown, did amazing work at home and he is in the condition to help the team. I am happy with the result, the clean sheet, it means the team is more solid, the players have less doubts.
“We played against a team with a coach with a lot of experience that organises teams in a very difficult way. I could predict that but they made it difficult for us.
“Our bench was rich, that helped me. To be honest, I don’t think it’s fair for West Ham to come here with 24 hours less to prepare than us. At the moment it is not nice.”
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