Manchester City’s bid to chop Arsenal’s Premier League lead to two points was scuppered as Harry Kane’s record-breaking goal earned Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win over the champions on Sunday.
Kane’s 15th-minute effort punished some sloppy City defending and made him the north London club’s all-time top goalscorer with 267, taking him past former great Jimmy Greaves whose record had stood since 1970. This was also Kane’s 200th Premier League goal. He is now only the third player to reach the milestone after Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208).
It was a strike even fans of Tottenham’s arch-rivals Arsenal would have celebrated down the road as it helped Mikel Arteta’s side stay five points clear despite Saturday’s shock loss at Everton.
Tottenham had led by two goals at half-time at City a few weeks ago only to capitulate and lose 4-2 but this time they held firm despite a late red card for Cristian Romero to boost their own hopes of finishing in the top four.
With Erling Haaland relatively quiet the closest City came to scoring was a Riyad Mahrez effort that smashed against the underside of the crossbar in first-half stoppage time.
Tottenham had Cristian Romero sent off towards the end for a second bookable offence — a trip on Jack Grealish — and there were the inevitable nerves during five minutes of stoppage time. And yet the goal that City needed to bail them out never looked on.
Spurs had played an almost perfect first half at City a few weeks previously — the less said about their second half the better — and they got themselves out in front again with a goal to send a fuzzy feeling around most of the ground.
“Congratulations, Harry,” read the message on the big screen — in gold capitals and what an achievement it was because, as anybody above a certain age will tell you, Greaves truly was the best.
City remain in second place with 45 points from 21 games with Arsenal on 50 having played a game less with the two sides meeting in north London on February 15.
Tottenham are fifth on 39 points from 22 games, one behind Newcastle United.
Held at home
Newcastle failed to make the most of a dream start as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United on Saturday.
Callum Wilson raced clear to put Eddie Howe’s team in front after three minutes, shortly after Joe Willock had a goal disallowed for the hosts.
But West Ham recovered well and deservedly levelled just past the half-hour mark when Lucas Paqueta fired a low shot home at the far post from a corner — the first league goal Newcastle have conceded since early November.
Newcastle dominated the second half but lacked the guile to find a way through West Ham’s defence as they drew for the fourth time in five Premier League matches to extend their unbeaten league run to 16.
In the week that they reached their first domestic cup final since 1999 the atmosphere was buoyant at St James’ Park and the stadium was rocking as the hosts flew out of the traps.
Willock seemed to have put Newcastle ahead but Miguel Almiron had just failed to keep the ball in play before crossing.
It was a let-off for West Ham but almost immediately they were punished again for a lacklustre start.
Sean Longstaff split West Ham’s defence with a perfect pass and Wilson timed his run to stride through and place his shot past keeper Lukasz Fabianski.
Newcastle did not build on their start though, and West Ham worked their way back into the contest and equalised when Declan Rice’s corner arrived at Paqueta who poked a shot through Kieran Trippier’s legs and past Nick Pope.
After the break Newcastle’s lack of goalscoring firepower returned to frustrate them as they huffed and puffed without creating much in the way of clear chances.
While Newcastle have the best defensive record in the top flight with only 12 goals conceded they have now scored only twice in their last five league games.
“It was a frustrating day really,” Wilson, who was denied a second by a superb Nayef Aguerd tackle when clean through, told Sky Sports.
Navas stars
Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson scored the winner but it was debutant keeper Keylor Navas they had to thank for a gritty 1-0 home victory over Leeds United.
The 36-year-old Costa Rican, signed on loan from Paris St Germain until the end of the season, pulled off a string of superb reflex saves to deny a Leeds side who dominated possession, but could not find a way past him.
Forest took the lead against the run of play when Leeds defender Pascal Struijk fouled Johnson and he compounded the error by botching his headed clearance from the free-kick, teeing up a chance for Johnson.
The Welsh forward needed no further invitation, firing a rasping volley into the net to breaking the deadlock with his side’s first effort on target.
The visitors could have levelled but Luis Sinisterra somehow blasted his effort high over the bar with the goal at his mercy, and when Leeds managed to get efforts on target Navas reacted smartly to keep them out.
Despite spending much of a frenetic second-half defending, Forest held on to extend their unbeaten run in the league to five games.
Other result: Newcastle 1 West Ham 1
Written with inputs from Reuters