Harry Kane has highlighted his importance to Tottenham as he returned from injury and helped them stop the rot by scoring in a 2-0 win over West Brom in the Premier League.
Kane had missed the last two-and-a-half games after coming off with an ankle injury against Liverpool and things could hardly have gone worse for Jose Mourinho’s men since as they were beaten in all three.
But the England captain made a quickfire return and put Spurs on their way against the Baggies with his 13th Premier League goal of the season, with Son Heung-min also finding the net in a much-needed win.
Spurs had been shot-shy in their previous two games without Kane, but they had a flurry of early efforts in the opening 20 minutes and could have taken a grip of the game.
Kane was the obvious catalyst and he had a number of shots, but was unusually rusty in front of goal on Sunday.
First he hit the stanchion after being set up by Serge Aurier and then rolled an effort wide after Tanguy Ndombele’s through-ball set him clear.
He saw another effort blocked when he might have normally scored before testing goalkeeper Sam Johnstone’s handling with a fierce shot at the far post.
It was a siege by the hosts and West Brom could not rely on Kane continuing to miss, and he scored in the 54th minute with a low finish, his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
Four minutes later it was 2-0 as Spurs hit West Brom with a devastating counter-attack.
Later on Sunday, leaders Manchester City can extend their lead to five points if they win against champions Liverpool, while Leicester City face Wolves and Chelsea travel to Sheffield United.