LONDON, Aug 29: Harry Kane used to be regarded as a slow starter to Premier League seasons.
Not this time.
The England captain scored for the third straight game with his double earning Tottenham a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Sunday and taking Kane to third in the all-time Premier League scoring charts.
Kane also scored a stoppage-time equaliser against Chelsea in the second round and the winner against Wolverhampton last weekend.
Kane had never scored in the season-opening month of August until 2018, a run of 15 matches across different seasons.
He also had a poor start to last season, after a summer move to Manchester City didn’t materialise, before finding form in the new year.
After a full preseason, he has hit the ground running in the 2022-23 campaign — and should have had another goal to his name against Forest, only for a second-half penalty to be saved by Dean Henderson.
Also Sunday, West Ham beat Aston Villa 1-0 to earn its first points of the season and Newcastle struck in the 90th minute to leave Wolverhampton with a 1-1 draw.
Moving up
Kane scored in either half to draw level with Andrew Cole on 187 Premier League goals — behind only Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208) — and ensure his side’s unbeaten start to the season continues.
Tottenham is third with 10 points from four games, two points behind leader Arsenal.
Kane’s perfect day was only spoilt when Henderson’s second penalty save in back-to-back home games saw the England striker’s run of 21 successful spot kicks come to an end.
Antonio Conte’s Spurs found the perfect way to quieten down the home ground as it took the lead after just five minutes.
Kane’s touch set Dejan Kulusevski away and, after advancing up the pitch, the Swede returned the ball to the England captain, who found the bottom corner from 20 yards in clinical fashion.
Tottenham was awarded a penalty eight minutes after the break as Steve Cook deliberately handled Ivan Perisic’s cross.
When the penalty was finally taken after a VAR check Henderson produced the heroics again — just as he did against West Ham — as he dived full length to his right to palm away Kane’s powerful kick.
It was the first spot kick Kane had missed for Tottenham since February 2018.
The visitors did eventually double their lead with nine minutes remaining.
Richarlison won the ball back and sent in a delicious cross that Kane headed into an empty net.
First points for West Ham
West Ham recorded its first points and first goal of the league season with a victory at Aston Villa.
Pablo Fornals scored the only goal of the game. His deflected second-half strike was enough to see the Hammers open their account for the top-flight campaign after losses to Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Brighton.
The win will ease some of the pressure on West Ham coach David Moyes but increase the tension for counterpart Steven Gerrard, whose side were booed off at full time.
Villa thought it had taken the lead in the 14th minute but Ezri Konsa’s goal was disallowed as Lucas Digne’s corner kick had gone fractionally out of play.
Fornals opened the scoring at Villa Park with 16 minutes remaining. Kurt Zouma brought the ball forward and found captain Declan Rice, who picked out Fornals and the Spaniard’s 25-yard effort deflected off Konsa and looped over Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez .
Unbeaten Magpies
Allan Saint-Maximin’s stunning 90th-minute equalizer saw Newcastle snatch a draw at Wolverhampton, salvaging its unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
Under pressure from Jacob Murphy, Hwang Hee-chan sliced a clearance into the air and it dropped for Saint-Maximin to thump a brilliant volley into the corner from 20 yards.
The Magpies then almost turned the match around completely in stoppage time with Elliot Anderson hitting the crossbar.
Ruben Neves’ first-half screamer had given Wolves the lead.
Newcastle needed Saint-Maximin to produce as Eddie Howe was unable to call on new $70 million signing Alexander Isak, with the Sweden international yet to receive his work permit, while Bruno Guimaraes and Callum Wilson were injured. The point does little to raise hopes at Molineux with Wolves still looking for the first league win of the season. (AP)
