It is hard to believe the promise of another year in the Europa League would ease the deep sense of uncertainty about Harry Kane’s future, but at least Tottenham are now well placed to avoid an even less becoming fate. That owes largely to another outstanding contribution from their centre-forward, who would be wasted in any second-tier competition and continues to operate at an astounding level of consistency.
Kane finished stylishly to break an anodyne Wolves’ resistance with the first half’s final action. He has now scored 22 times this season; it is not a chart that he has topped in the final analysis since 2017 but, at a time when his career prospects are under more sustained scrutiny than ever, the vision of him standing above his peers while Spurs scratch around beneath the elite would be jarring.
A straightforward win means they are not quite out of Champions League contention, an outcome that might calm some of the nerves around Kane, although a top-four finish would require a uniquely favourable set of results over the coming week.
Tottenham might wish they had enjoyed more afternoons like this since September: apart from a meandering spell midway through the opening period, this was a dominant display in which Kane was by no means the only star turn.
Nonetheless, Spurs’ comfort hinged on him. Played onside by a wonky Wolves defensive line after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s perceptive curled pass, he delayed his shot as Rui Patrício loomed. There was never the slightest sense Kane had lost control of the situation: a dummy sent Patrício to ground and left Conor Coady, attempting a last-ditch tackle, sliding into thin air. The subsequent finish was simple and Ryan Mason was left to purr.
“More often than not, when Harry Kane plays a game of football he produces moments and he did today,” the interim head coach said. There were a few more of them, albeit with end products of less consequence. Kane smacked Patrício’s right-hand post with a 22-yard effort in the fifth minute and, via the keeper’s fingertips, did exactly the same shortly before Højbjerg doubled the lead. Remarkably, Dele Alli shuddered the opposite upright from the rebound after that second chance; if it rarely seemed Spurs were at full throttle, they could easily have won by a couple more.
Højbjerg was on hand to convert shortly after the hour when Patrício, in his least convincing intervention of the afternoon, parried Gareth Bale’s first-time effort straight to him.
“I’m not too sure what he’s doing in the six-yard box to be perfectly honest, but he felt it was right,” Mason half-joked.
An exceptional combination of technique and tenacity by Sergio Reguilón, sliding to keep a ball in play ahead of a dozy Ki-Jana Hoever before marauding in from the left, led to the chance and encapsulated the difference in intensity between the sides.
When he does sit down to decide what comes next, Kane might feel more encouraged by the depth of his supporting cast.
It has not always been that way but this time Son Heung-min, quiet beyond a first-half effort that Patrício saved, was upstaged by Alli.
A nutmeg on Leander Dendoncker that created a half-chance from nothing in the 27th minute was evidence of Alli’s mood; there was more where that came from and this was exactly the kind of involved, swaggering but diligent, performance that makes him such a compelling proposition at his best.
“Dele was excellent,” Mason agreed. “I don’t really like singling out players but it’s hard not to because I’m sure everyone felt it. He ran, he competed, he pressed, he created opportunities and it was an excellent No 10 performance.”
The watching Gareth Southgate could only have been impressed but perhaps a touch regretful given that, even though he is allowed to pick 26 players for Euro 2020, Alli’s revival has almost certainly come too late. Spurs might feel similar emotions: a few more outings like this under José Mourinho might have meant their top-four hopes do not look so slim after all. In the event, six points against Aston Villa and Leicester will at least ready them for the Europa League.
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Wolves will fall well short of that stage. Only Coady and Adama Traoré, who laid on two good chances for Fábio Silva only for the teenager to miss the target both times, rose above the mean for them here. Their season has, by recent standards, been an anticlimax and the summer may bring tough decisions for Nuno Espírito Santo.
“The overall performance was not as good as we expected but we had good moments,” he said. “I’m disappointed in the way we conceded: at the end of the first half we were open and disorganised and allowed a single pass to break the lines.” Kane did the rest and Spurs will hope that remains a recurring theme.
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