“Kane’s record equalling goal beats Fulham.”

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Fulham (0) 0 v 1 (1) Tottenham Hotspur

                                                                          45 +1 Kane, assist Son

Yellows:  Palhinha                                            Son, Romero, Bentancur       Ref. Paul Tierney

Played Monday 23 January 2023 at Craven Cottage, attendance undeclared.

The scoreline suggests a tight match and that it was, once it got underway, following an 18 minutes delay for local transport issues and technical problems with the Referee’s audio equipment. Fulham inevitably started the brighter and it took two smart saves from Tottenham Hotspur’s goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to prevent their usual “go-behind” start. He made at least two more class saves later. When the goal came it was vintage Harry Kane -playing despite a fever- taking the ball on the edge of The Cottagers’ area from Son Heung-min (of course), making space on the turn, and firing low and hard into the bottom corner. That was Harry Kane’s 266th goal in all competitions for Spurs, equalling that other great Tottenham Hotspur and England goal scorer, the late Jimmy Greaves. Purists will say it took Kane 415 games to Greaves’ 379 between 1961 and 1970, but how can you divide two of the game’s best natural, lethal finishers, albeit with very different playing styles?

There was another London derby mid-week on 25 January 2023 in the FA Women’s League Cup Quarter-finals ending Tottenham Hotspur Women (0) 1 v 3 (1) Chelsea Women. The lethal pair of Sam Kerr (38,86) and Fran Kirby (68) did the damage, and Drew Spence’s late goal (90+4) was very much a consolation of some sort. No frozen pitch on this occasion, unlike Chelsea Women v Liverpool Women at Kingsmeadow on Sunday 22 January 2023.

The next Premier London Derbies (PLDs) match will be on Friday 3 February 2023 and is Chelsea v Fulham. This is only 3 weeks after the fixture was played at Craven Cottage, but we are now in the second half of the 2022-23 season when fixtures are reversed. Fulham won at home 2-1, but Chelsea won at Stamford Bridge 2-0 in 2022-21 and in the 2018-19 seasons. If The Blues are to stage a second half of this season revival it will need to begin very soon!

Until next time, “Keep Safe” and enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.