Mauricio Pochettino labelled Harry Kane Tottenham’s “present and future” after the striker again proved the scourge of Arsenal with the goal that gave Spurs a 1-0 derby win on Saturday. Kane soared above the Arsenal defence to head home his 32nd goal of the season four minutes into the second-half to move Pochettino’s men above Liverpool and Chelsea into third in the Premier League fight for Champions League places.

“He is the present and the future,” said Pochettino when quizzed whether Kane’s dominant header possessed traits of an old-fashioned English centre-forward. “It is amazing all that he is achieving, (I’m) so proud and happy he is in our side.”

Advertisement

Kane’s goal was his seventh in seven league games against the club who rejected him as a youngster.

“I look forward to these games. It was a great performance by the team and thankfully I was there to put one away,” said Kane, who also passed up other chances as Spurs’ could easily have ran out more convincing winners.

Tottenham’s prospects of finishing in the top four have been boosted by seven points from a tough three-game run starting with victory over Manchester United at Wembley 10 days ago which was followed by Kane’s stoppage time penalty to secure a draw at Liverpool last weekend.

Advertisement

“That’s what we needed. We had tough fixtures: United, Liverpool and Arsenal all in a row and seven points from those games is fantastic,” added Kane. “We’ve got to build on it, another big game in the Champions League now and keep the momentum going.”

Spurs could have been made to pay for their profligacy as Arsenal substitute Alexandre Lacazatte missed a glorious chance to level a minute from time. “Kane made the difference and that is what he is about,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose side are in sixth place, six points adrift of the top four. “Once they scored you could see we were wobbling for a while and they could have scored one or two more, but in the last 10 minutes we should have come back to 1-1.”