Kane and Spurs dent Manchester City's title hopes, help rivals Arsenal
Harry Kane broke Tottenham’s all-time scoring record with a goal — his 267th for the club — that will have been celebrated almost as jubilantly by the other team in north London.
The England captain’s milestone strike earned Tottenham a 1-0 win Sunday over Manchester City, which was looking for a victory to trim the gap to Premier League leader Arsenal to two points.
In the end, Arsenal wasn’t punished for losing 1-0 at Everton on Saturday — and maybe that’s no surprise. After all, City now hasn’t won, or even scored, in five games at Tottenham’s new stadium in either the Premier League or the Champions League.
Even the absence of Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, recovering in his native Italy after having his gallbladder removed this week, couldn’t change the narrative around this particular fixture.
Kane swept home the winner in the 15th minute after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg intercepted a pass out from the back by City midfielder Rodri and set up the striker to score his 200th Premier League goal. Only two other players — Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208) — have reached that figure.
Kane broke the tie for all-time Tottenham goals he had with the late Jimmy Greaves, who played for the club from 1961-70.
City was the architect of its own downfall for the goal, just as it was when conceding two sloppy first-half goals against Tottenham last month before rallying for a 4-2 win at Etihad Stadium.
This time, there was no comeback despite a second-half resurgence sparked by the introduction of Kevin De Bruyne, who was benched for the second straight game against Tottenham, and the 87th-minute sending-off of Cristian Romero for a second yellow card.
City lost for the fourth time this season in the league and stayed five points behind Arsenal, which has a game in hand as it bids for a first top-flight title since 2004.
Fifth-place Tottenham moved a point behind fourth-place Newcastle in the race for Champions League qualification.