Goalscorers do not merely change games. They change weeks and perceptions. They amass enviable statistics and collect accolades. They overshadow those around them.
Within the space of 23 minutes, Harry Kane completed a hat-trick on a second successive Sunday, recorded his third treble of an embryonic 2017, scored the 100th goal of his club career and condemned a sorry Stoke City side to a third 4-0 thrashing at Tottenham Hotspur’s hands in the space of 10 months.
He also restored the mood at White Hart Lane. Exiting the Europa League to a mid-table Belgian team, in Gent, was ignominious.
“Thursday was very disappointing,” Kane said.
Three days later, Spurs reclaimed second place to render themselves Chelsea’s closest challengers again.
“A very good response,” manager Mauricio Pochettino said.
Once again, Tottenham look a club on the up.
They acted as though they had a point to prove.
In contrast, Stoke had 15 days to prepare. They were shambolic as Tottenham were terrific.
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The lone visitor who was blameless was goalkeeper Lee Grant, who spared City a still heavier defeat with saves from Kane, Dele Alli and a marauding Kyle Walker. Jan Vertonghen also rattled Grant’s bar, while there was the oddity of Tottenham taking off two centre-backs – Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld – in precautionary measures as they led 4-0.
Stoke were reduced to replacing booked players simply to save themselves suspensions. Glenn Whelan might have got a red card for a lunge at Vertonghen.
Charlie Adam was booked for fouling Alli and escaped a second yellow card for a foul on the same player. Perpetrator of an awful foul against Gent, Alli was subjected to some rough treatment.
This was a role reversal, a restorative occasion for the 20-year-old, who was sent off on Thursday. “I felt horrible,” he admitted. Three days on, he scored on the stroke of half-time, lifting a shot into the roof of the net after Kane took a beautiful touch to beat Bruno Martins Indi and delivered a measured centre.
It brought Kane an assist to go with his goals, a blend of the fantastic and the fortunate, the opportunistic and the rehearsed. Six years after his first senior strike, scored while on loan at Leyton Orient, he brought up his century with an angled half-volley after Stoke failed to clear. It was dispatched with trademark precision. “Hopefully another hundred within the next few years,” Kane added. His 101st was better than the landmark strike, a left-footed half-volley from 20 yards to convert Christian Eriksen’s corner.
The image of Kane as a willing workhorse can obscure the class of many of his goals.
But, like many a specialist scorer, he also benefits from a shoot-on-sight policy. His treble was completed by a free kick that took a hefty deflection off the former Spurs forward Peter Crouch.
“He is one of the best strikers in Europe,” Pochettino said. “He has big potential.”
But, at 23, he is amassing achievements. The opener made Kane the first player to register 20 in three consecutive seasons for Tottenham since Martin Chivers in the 1970s, some feat considering some of the goalscorers Spurs have had since then: Gary Lineker, Jurgen Klinsmann, Dimitar Berbatov, Teddy Sheringham, Jermain Defoe, Clive Allen.
A fifth Tottenham hat-trick also took him past Lineker. He is in elite company, while retaining the persona of an everyman with a happy habit of scoring.
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