Premier League: Harry Kane equals Jimmy Greaves record as Tottenham Hotspur edge past Fulham
Harry Kane equalled Jimmy Greaves’s all-time Tottenham Hotspur goalscoring record as the Lilywhites claimed a hard-fought 1-0 Premier League win over London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage.
The England captain struck a historic 266th Lilywhites goal – and his 200th in the Premier League – near the end of the first half to seal victory for Antonio Conte’s side, who were under the cosh for the opening exchanges before gaining control and seeing out a crucial victory.
Following a 15-minute kickoff delay due to travel disruption in the capital – which was further extended as technology failed the officials – Fulham took the game to Tottenham from the get go, sending in cross after cross in an attempt to catch out the under-fire Hugo Lloris.
Harrison Reed should have given the hosts the lead with 18 minutes gone after being picked out by Andreas Pereira, but the Fulham man volleyed straight at Lloris from a brilliant position.
Aleksandar Mitrovic then sent a header just wide of Lloris’s goal in the 25th minute as Fulham turned the screw, but the hosts would be made to pay for their plethora of missed chances as Kane brought up goal number 266.
With his back to goal, Kane received the ball from deadly double act partner Son Heung-min, spun away from Tim Ream into space and curled a sumptuous strike into the bottom corner of the net to draw level with Greaves at the top of Tottenham’s goalscoring charts.
Kane was inches away from cementing his place in Tottenham folklore and breaking Greaves’s record in the 57th minute, but his close-range header was smartly tipped over the bar by Bernd Leno.
Surviving several waves of Fulham pressure in the first half, Tottenham did a competent job of keeping Marco Silva’s side at bay as the game entered its last knockings, as the Cottagers failed to penetrate the visitors’ staunch backline.
One of the hosts’ substitutes came agonisingly close to the crucial equaliser, though, as Manor Solomon’s curling effort was tipped just wide by Lloris in the 89th minute before the resulting corner came to nothing.
Fifth-placed Tottenham survived six minutes of injury time to move within three points of Manchester United – who have played a game fewer – while Fulham remain seventh and are now five points adrift of Conte’s men.
Next up for Tottenham is an FA Cup fourth-round contest with Preston North End on Saturday, while Fulham host Sunderland in the same competition this weekend.
