Maybe two-week breaks aren't so good after all!
A couple of results this week-end suggested that having an enforced two week break from competitive football is not such a ood thing. One was our 4-0 roasting of Mark Hughes' Stoke City who had taken a trip to Dubai for some warm weather training. The other was Liverpool's defeat at Leicester last night after the "Reds" had had a similar break. Liverpool turned out to be the fall guys for another fairy tale story for Leicester, who last week sacked manager Claudio Ranieri, and who last night scored their first Premier League goals of 2017, and their first league win of the year to boot.
Both results were good for Spurs, who secured second place due to Manchester City and Arsenal taking an enforced break due to the Man Utd v Southampton League Cup Final. City remain a point behind us with the game in hand (against Man Utd) to be arranged, and Arsenal remain three points (plus goal difference) behind with their away game against Southampton to play. Arsenal play at Anfield next week-end, so more points will be lost by one or both these opponents for a top four place. Whilst we need to do our job in a tricky home game against Everton, Chelsea's game at West Ham's London Stadium won't be easy.
Whilst February hasn't been great for us with that Europa League exit fresh in our minds, it's amazing what a good win like 4-0 on Sunday does for morale - and for hopes of champions League next season! Mauricio Pochettino and his team have not given up on catching Chelsea just yet either!
The Harry Kane saga just keeps rolling on. It will be no surprise to learn he was man of the match for his hat-trick and assist on Sunday. It will also be no surprise to learn he was man of the match in the three games in which he has scored a hat-trick so far this year. Harry is level top of this season's goal-scoring charts, and he is the Premier League's top scorer overall since the start of the 2014-15 season. Whilst this week's Norman Giller Blog maintains there is no comparison between Kane and Greaves, it is a fact that Harry is the first player to score 20 or more goals in all competitions for Spurs in three consecutive seasons since Falco, Chivers and Greaves before him.
Harry is going to be compared with Greaves inevitably for some time to come, as those goals just keep mounting up, and records fall. The first of his hat-trick goals was his 100th club goal including his loan spells at Orient, Millwall, and Leicester, and he already has 66 Premier League goals - all for Spurs. Harry is fast catching up with our top Premier League scorers who are Sheringham (97), Keane and Defoe (both 91).
Moreover, I was looking at Paul Yarden's excellent stats (http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Tottenham_Hotspur_FC.html) and can confirm that Harry Kane has the best strike rate of any of our Premier League strikers, with 66 goals in 104 Premier League appearances. The others in the top five are:-
2nd Jurgen Klinsmann - 29 in 56 apps
3rd Teddy Sheringham - 97 in 236 apps
4th Dimitar Berbatov - 27 in 70 apps
5th Robbie Keane - 91 in 238 apps
· See the spursometer in full.
Premier League results 25-27.02.17
Chelsea 3-1 Swansea
C. Palace 1-0 M'brough
Everton 2-0 S'derland
Hull 1-1 Burnley
West Brom 2-1 B'mouth
Watford 1-1 West Ham
Spurs 4-0 Stoke
Leicester 3-1 Liverpool
Postponed:-
S'hampton v Arsenal
Man City v Man Utd
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Chelsea 26 20 3 3 55-19 36 63
2. Spurs 26 15 8 3 50-18 32 53
3. Man City 25 16 4 5 51-29 22 52
4. Arsenal 25 15 5 5 54-28 26 50
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5. Liverpool 26 14 7 5 55-33 22 49
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6. Man Utd 25 13 9 3 38-21 17 48
7. Everton 26 12 8 6 42-27 15 44
8. West Brom 26 11 7 8 36-32 4 40
9. West Ham 26 9 6 11 35-44 -9 33
10. Stoke 26 8 8 10 30-40 -10 32
11. Burnley 26 9 4 13 28-37 -9 31
12. Watford 26 8 7 11 30-43 -13 31
13. S'hampton 25 8 6 11 28-31 -3 30
14. B'mouth 26 7 5 14 36-51 -15 26
15. Leicester 26 6 6 14 27-44 -17 24
16. Swansea 26 7 3 16 32-57 -25 24
17. M'brough 26 4 10 12 19-28 -9 22
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18. C. Palace 26 6 4 16 33-46 -13 22
19. Hull 26 5 6 15 23-50 -27 21
20. S'derland 26 5 4 17 24-48 -24 19
