Premier League: Cross says six teams are in contention for title 1769459451CMRVLuYV
Paul Merson has admitted that Harry Kane has proved him wrong in the early weeks of Tottenham’s season. The Spurs skipper has a staggering 15 goal involvements in the opening eight games of the season as Jose Mourinho’s men sit just one point off the top of the Premier League.
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In the opening months of the campaign, Spurs have scored 19 times, with only Chelsea netting more.
That goes against what Merson predicted for both Kane and Spurs, after he suggested Mourinho’s appointment could stifle them from an attacking point of view.
Back in June, he said: "When Jose took the job I worried for Harry Kane.
"He played under Pochettino and Tottenham had a go wherever they went. There were goals, there were crosses, there were shots.
"He’s going to be playing up front on his own and it is going to be hard work. In the end he is trying to hit 60-yard passes just to get involved in the game and that’s not Harry Kane.
"I don’t see him getting 25-30 goals a season the way Jose will want to play, and he [Mourinho] won’t want to play like it was when he first got in there, 4-2s and 5-3s, no way."
However, the former Gunners star has changed his opinion and now believes the England international’s goals could fire the north Londoners to their first Premier League title.
"Harry Kane has proved me wrong when I said he’d struggle to score goals for Jose Mourinho," Merson wrote in his Daily Star column.
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"Mourinho is not an entertainer. He’s a winner. That’s why Tottenham’s 1-0 win at West Brom was such a big result - and it was Kane who scored right at the end.
"Mourinho doesn’t care about entertaining the fans. He just wants to win the game. So I didn’t think Kane would have as many chances to score.
"But all of a sudden he’s got runners around him in Gareth Bale, Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura… they even signed another striker in Vinicius.
"And when they’re not blowing teams away like they did at Manchester United, they can grind out a win like they did at West Brom.”
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Kane is one of the early front-runners for the PFA Player of the Season and Merson added that his game has taken the best elements of Premier League legends Alan Shearer and Dennis Bergkamp.
He added: Kane is playing sometimes as a No 9 and sometimes deeper as a 10 - and he’s world class at BOTH. He can play a 30-yard pass through the eye of a needle.
"Dennis Bergkamp was a great No 10. Alan Shearer was a great No 9. Ask them to do each other’s jobs and they’d struggle. Kane can do both. How many other players can do that?
"Maybe he doesn’t score 30 goals this season. But if he scores 20, bags plenty of assists, and Spurs win the league, he won’t care."
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