Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane will be out to equal a Premier League goalscoring record set by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink when the Lilywhites tackle Brentford in a London derby on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the North London club’s collective struggles this season, Kane has continued to thrive individually with 29 goals and five assists in 47 appearances in all tournaments.
The England captain has found the back of the net 27 times in 36 Premier League games for Ryan Mason‘s side – only Manchester City’s Erling Braut Haaland (36) has more to his name.
A third of Kane’s top-flight strikes this season have come in London derbies, scoring once against all of Chelsea, Fulham, Arsenal and Brentford before the turn of the year.
In 2023, the 29-year-old has added another five capital clash goals to his collection, netting three times against Crystal Palace as well as solitary goals against Fulham and Chelsea.
Should Kane manage to make the net ripple on Saturday lunchtime, he will become just the second player to score at least 10 London derby goals in a single Premier League campaign.
The only previous man to do so is ex-Chelsea and Netherlands striker Hasselbaink, who hit double figures while representing the Blues in the 2001-02 campaign.
In what was his best goalscoring year for Chelsea, Hasselbaink struck a total of five goals against Tottenham, a brace in a 3-2 White Hart Lane triumph in September 2001 before putting three goals past them six months later.
The 51-year-old also notched three goals in two fixtures against West Ham, while striking once against Arsenal and Fulham, scoring a total of 23 Premier League goals that year.
Hasselbaink’s feat is not the only one on the line for Kane, as he could set an outright record for scoring in the most Premier League games during a single 38-match season.
A penalty against Aston Villa last weekend saw Kane score in a 24th Premier League game this season, drawing level with Mohamed Salah‘s record from the 2017-18 campaign.
Prior to that spot kick, a header against Crystal Palace on May 6 also saw Kane overtake Wayne Rooney into second place in the all-time Premier League charts, and he now sits on a total of 210 goals in the division.
However, that penalty proved inconsequential in a 2-1 defeat to the Lions, mathematically ending Tottenham’s hopes of finishing in the top four for the second season running, and Mason’s men can now only place as high as sixth.
Villa moved level on points with seventh-placed Tottenham courtesy of last weekend’s success in the West Midlands, and victory for Brentford on Saturday would take them to within just one point of their capital counterparts ahead of the final day of the season.
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