Tottenham returned to the top of the Premier League standings after Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son’s first-half strikes sunk city rivals Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.
The duo played the roles of protagonists once again as Jose Mourinho’s charges welcomed two thousand supporters back inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time in 277 days.
Son opened the scoring in the 13th minute when he curled in his shot from 25 yards to beat a helpless Bernd Leno, after feeding off Harry Kane’s pass to run through the Arsenal defence.
Arsenal had more possession and tried to unlock the Spurs defence but to no avail, as Spurs caught them on the counter-attack to double their advantage in first-half extra time. This time, Son turned provider as he reciprocated the effort to play in Harry Kane who made no mistake with a smashing finish off the woodwork for his 11th goal in this fixture, and 250th for club and country.
Son and Kane (31 goals) are now within touching distance of equalling Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard’s record for most goal involvements by a duo (36) in the Premier League.
“When I’m passing him through and he’s cutting inside and whipping them into the top bins it is an easy game for me,” said Harry Kane.
Spurs manager Mourinho described the duo as “world-class” while acknowledging their strong work ethic.
“Kane clearing balls in the box, Sonny for the first 60 minutes as a winger and then a second striker – it is not just about scoring goals and being world-class players,” said the Portuguese manager.
“It is about being great guys and doing your best for the team.”
The defeat leaves Mikel Arteta’s side 15th on the standings, 11 points off Spurs who sit top – ahead of champions Liverpool – on goal difference.
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Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Spurs have won consecutive Premier League north London derbies for just the third time, after December 1992 and May 1993, and April 2010 and November 2010.
- Mikel Arteta is just the second Arsenal manager to lose each of his first two north London derbies after Bertie Mee in 1966-67.
- Spurs boss Jose Mourinho has taken charge of more home games in all competitions without defeat against Arsenal than he has versus any other side (11 – W7 D4).
- Arsenal have earned just 13 points from 11 league games this season, their lowest return at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1981-82 (12 points).
- This was the 11th time a Mourinho side has had 35% possession or lower in a Premier League match, with the Tottenham manager winning nine of those matches (D1 L1).
- Harry Kane scored his 250th goal in his senior career for club and country – 202 for current club Spurs, 32 for England, nine for Millwall, five for Leyton Orient and two for Leicester City.
- Kane has now scored 11 goals in north London derbies, the most of any player in the fixture’s history, overtaking Emmanuel Adebayor and Bobby Smith.
- Kane assisted his 10th Premier League goal of the season in just 11 games; no player has ever reached 10 assists in fewer appearances from the start of a campaign in the competition (level with Mesut Ozil in 2015-16).
What happened earlier on Sunday?
In the day’s early kick-off, Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke both scored braces as Crystal Palace recorded the biggest win of the weekend with a resounding 5-1 victory over struggling West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.
Over at Bramall Lane, Jamie Vardy’s injury-time winner condemned Sheffield United to yet another defeat in the Premier League, as last season’s surprise package continued their desperate search for a first win this season.
The Foxes opened scoring through Ayoze Perez on 24 minutes before Oli McBurnie fed off John Lundstram’s corner to restore parity two minutes later.
It looked nailed on for a draw but Sheffield Wednesday fan Vardy had other ideas. He collected a brilliant through ball by James Maddison – making his second assist of the game – before brilliantly applying a finish past Aaron Ramsdale as Brendan Rodgers’ side came away with all three points.
Premier League Results From Super Sunday
- West Bromwich Albion 1-5 Crystal Palace
- Sheffield United 1-2 Leicester City
- Tottenham 2-0 Arsenal
- Liverpool 4-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
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