by Harry Kane’s record goal lifted 10-man Tottenham to a 1-0 victory over Manchester City to further dent their hopes of the champions’ titles.
Kane scored the scoring after a quarter of an hour to break the tie and pass Jimmy Greaves as Spurs’ all-time top scorer, having drawn with the bottom striker against Fulham two weeks ago.
It proved enough to maintain Tottenham’s excellent record against City, who could have been two points behind leaders Arsenal after their loss to Everton on Saturday.
Instead, fifth-placed Spurs managed a third win in their last four games against Pep Guardiola’s side despite Cristian Romero’s late red card to help the recovery of absent manager Antonio Conte, who is still in Italy. after having his gallbladder removed on Wednesday.
Despite Conte recovering from surgery, he was involved in team selection and deadline day signing Pedro Porro was only on the Spurs bench and surprisingly City also named Kevin De Bruyne among alternates.
The visitors had seen title rivals Arsenal lose points 24 hours earlier and signaled their intentions with blocked shots from Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez in early exchanges.
City dominated possession, but they soon felt the familiar feeling of being behind Tottenham and it turned out to be an unprecedented goal.
Eric Dier urged his teammates to press higher and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg pounced past Rico Lewis outside the visitors’ penalty area before moving into the path of Kane, who slotted an effort past Ederson and into the corner.
Kane surpassed Greaves as the club’s all-time top scorer with 267 goals for Spurs and saw jubilant celebrations both on and off the pitch with in-stadium screens acknowledging his achievement before the striker greeted his family at the West Stand.
Bookings followed with Rodrigo Bentancur and Romero booked in quick succession, the latter for colliding with peripheral figure Erling Haaland.
Tottenham assistant Cristian Stellini was trying to match the lively presence of Conte’s absence on the touchline, but saw his team enjoy a bit of luck before half-time.
After Rodri and Jack Grealish failed to find the net with twisting efforts late in the half, Mahrez sent a stinging half-volley crashing off the crossbar from 12-yards that bounced to safety to ensure Spurs were up in the game. break for the first time. at home since October 12.
Ben Davies headed wide for the hosts early in the second half before Guardiola turned on De Bruyne with 57 minutes played.
De Bruyne’s first real involvement was when his short free kick found Álvarez, who saw a low shot deflected off Dier’s thigh.
It set off a frantic spell with Romero blocking Manuel Akanji’s shot and seconds later Ivan Perisic’s cross agonizingly evaded the Argentinian defender and Kane at the far post.
Kane was in the thick of the action minutes later, sending an effort wide before Ederson denied it after Tottenham’s top scorer plowed his way between Kyle Walker and Akanji.
More drama followed when referee Andrew Madley showed Romero a second yellow card for a foul on Grealish before five minutes of injury time was added.
Despite City’s great possession, it was Tottenham who held their ground to move within a point of the top four and do rival Arsenal a favor in the title race.
