The England captain’s second-half header propelled Tottenham Hotspur past tenacious Wolverhampton Wanderers in north London, giving Harry Kane the distinction of scoring the most goals for one club in Premier League history.
After hitting the crossbar at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with headers in each half, Kane pounced to nod Ivan Perisic’s header past Jose Sa and lift Spurs to the top of the table.
Slick Wolves had the upper hand in the first half, limiting their opponents to one shot on goal while continuing the wasteful behavior that has characterized their winless start to the season.
On Goncalo Guedes’ debut start for the team, club record acquisition Matheus Nunes frequently teamed up with him to good effect.
Tottenham upped the ante at the start of the second half, and Kane was only denied by the crossbar once more when he sent a diving header from Dejan Kulusevski’s right-wing cross over Sa.
Following risky work by Kulusevski, Son Heung-min attempted to break the score but his effort hit the outside of the near post.
Kane broke Sergio Aguero’s one-club record by scoring one of the easiest goals the clinical shooter has ever scored to score for Spurs for the 185th time in the top league, giving manager Antonio Conte a look of relief.
Raul Jimenez was added by Lage, who had scored in Wolves’ 2-0 victory over Tottenham the previous campaign.
No Kane, no gain?
Conte will have believed that this was the kind of challenge that Tottenham needed to take three points from to prove their title — or even top-four — credentials. Tottenham labored to threaten Wolves during the first half and had evidently gotten a rocket upon re-emerging from Conte.
The playmaker was crucial to their greatest work outside of the penalty area, and the wingback frequently supplied appealing crosses from odd locations while under pressure. Kulusevski and Perisic were also impressed with their passes.
Son was quieter than normal, and Kane was frequently thwarted by a horde of players, but there was a sense that if Wolves couldn’t find their own lethal instinct, their primary goal threat would be the difference.
After reaching another milestone and adding to his team’s score at the end of a week that marked the club’s tenth season in the Premier League, Kane admitted to BT Sport that it had been a challenging game.
“Wolves deserve praise for their play. We came out in the second half with a lot more vigour, kept the ball better, applied more pressure, and scored the goal we deserved. After that, neither we nor they produced much.”
When asked if Spurs have a newly discovered fortitude to react positively when games do not go their way, Kane did not seem fully certain.
He remarked, “Time will tell as the season progresses,” before Tottenham’s two away games in four days starting on Matchday 4 at West Ham and Nottingham Forest. We must play better and improve our game-starting.
“The mark of a good team is when you don’t play at your best and win games. I hope I have many more years to enjoy playing in the Premier League after a terrific nine or ten years.
Spurs have won both of their games so far this season, defeating Southampton 4-1 on an opening day before holding off arch-rivals Chelsea last weekend when they weren’t at their best to pull out a last-second tie.
To move to the top of the Premier League standings for only a short period before the 3 o’clock kickoffs, the Lilywhites will be looking to make it back-to-back victories at home against Wolves this lunchtime.
Due to Cristian Romero’s injury, Antonio Conte will be obliged to make one change in his starting lineup at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. However, we anticipate that the Italian will also make a second alteration.
Alasdair Gold, a reporter for Tottenham, will be joining Lee Wilmot to provide coverage of the game.
Although he added a careful note of caution about how long it might take his new signings to settle, Wolves manager Bruno Lage sounded calm and confident as he spoke about his team adding aggression to their expansive approach before this encounter.
Guedes, who cost £27.5 million to sign from Valencia, was starting his first game, while Matheus Nunes, who cost £38 million to sign from Sporting CP on Thursday, was making his debut.
After an arguably unjustifiable loss at Leeds and a goalless draw with Fulham at home, where Wolves had 60% of the possession but just one shot on goal, the fans are desperate for their creative and attacking players to make an impact.
Considering how they played in the first half, you would not have guessed that Wolves’ squad was lacking in goals and points. The visitors, reflecting their coach’s poise from the start, accomplished much of their good work in Tottenham’s final third, taming the home crowd and creating multiple anxious moments for an occasionally shaky-looking backline and goalie Lloris.
Nevertheless, it was nevertheless a game that drew just as many boos and cheers from the visiting supporters. The failure of Wolves to capitalise on having 10 of the 11 shots at goal before halftime was due in part to Nunes and Pedro Neto.
They frequently put Spurs on the back foot and occasionally sent them chasing shadows with their sweeping passing and link-up play, which was frequently enjoyable to watch.
