appearance for Tottenham this season as Nuno Espirito Santo earned a 1-0 win
against his former club Wolves, while Mason Greenwood salvaged a 1-1 draw for
Manchester United at Southampton on Sunday.
Striker Kane came off the bench in the second half at Molineux after the
Manchester City transfer target missed the first two games following his late
return from his close-season holiday.
The England captain,
frustrated by Spurs’ 13-year trophy drought, hopes to force a move to Premier
League champions City before the August 31 transfer deadline.
Kane said he has
“never refused to train” with the squad, but the 28-year-old believes
he has a gentleman’s agreement with club chairman Daniel Levy allowing him to
leave this summer.
However, City are so far
unwilling to meet Levy’s £150 million ($204 million) asking price for last
season’s Premier League top scorer.
Kane was left out of
Tottenham’s squad when they beat City in their Premier League opener last
weekend and also missed Thursday’s Europa Conference League defeat at
Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira.
Tottenham were already
leading through Dele Alli’s 10th minute penalty by the time Kane arrived on the
scene.
Alli was fouled by
Wolves keeper Jose Sa and the midfielder picked himself up to convert the
spot-kick.
It was Alli’s first
league goal since March 2020 as he returns to favour following a long spell in
exile under Nuno’s predecessor Jose Mourinho.
Kane replaced Son
Heung-min with 19 minutes left and received a largely positive reception from
the travelling Tottenham fans, who sang “Harry Kane, he’s one of our
own” as Wolves supporters mockingly chanted “He’ll be a Manc in the
morning”.
Kane had a golden
opportunity to mark his return with a goal when Steven Bergwijn picked him out,
but his shot was repelled by Jose Sa.
Despite Kane’s miss and
his late booking for time-wasting, it was a winning return to Wolves for Nuno,
who was back for the first time since leaving in the close-season after four
years in charge.
Although Nuno was far
from Tottenham’s first choice, he has made a strong start with successive
league victories.
“Harry is still in
the process of increasing and improving his level of fitness, but he is one of
the best players in the world,” Nuno said.
“You can see how he helped the
team in terms of possession and the fine lines. We need everybody.”
GREENWOOD
TO THE RESCUE
At St Mary’s, Manchester
United failed to build on last weekend’s 5-1 demolition of Leeds.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s
side needed a Mason Greenwood equaliser to rescue a point after Fred’s own
goal.
While United left the
south-coast frustrated, they did equal Arsenal’s English top-flight record of
27 successive away league games without defeat.
Southampton took a
controversial lead in the 30th minute.
Bruno Fernandes felt he
was fouled when a barge from Jack Stephens left the United midfielder in a heap
but referee Craig Pawson waved play on.
Moussa Djenepo and Adam
Armstrong worked the ball to Che Adams on the edge of the United area and his
shot deflected off Fred’s out-stretched boot as it flashed past David De Gea.
Last season, United
recovered 15 points when losing at half-time, coming from behind to win on five
occasions.
They staged another
second half fightback as Greenwood equalised in the 55th minute, firing under
home keeper Alex McCarthy from 12 yards after Paul Pogba poked the ball into
the teenager’s path.
“We should do
better defending their goal but, that being said, it’s a foul. He goes straight
through Bruno, with his arm and his hip across him,” Solskjaer said.
“We can’t go from
one extreme of volleyball or basketball last season to rugby now. I like the
more lenient way, it’s more men’s football but still, that’s a foul.”
Later on Sunday,
Chelsea’s £98 million record signing Romelu Lukaku will make his second debut
for the Blues in the London derby at Arsenal. (AFP)
