Tottenham unseat champions on home turf yet again as Kane claims club goals record for himself

Tottenham (1) 1 Kane 15

Man City (0) 0

In his quieter moments, Harry Kane must often wonder what might have been had he made the switch to Man City when the champions were after him and he seemed to want away.

But in his less reflective moments he simply scores against them, just as he scores against everybody else.

Today’s little number after 15 minutes meant the small matter of goal number 267 in a Tottenham shirt and a new club record to eclipse the one seemingly set in stone by Jimmy Greaves all those years ago.

It also happened to take him to 200 Premier League goals. Only Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208) have scored more.

The stadium’s home supporters rose as one to acclaim their great hero – who was on hand to profit from a City lapse when Rodri’s casual pass to Rico Lewis was intercepted by a pressing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and rolled out to him for a relatively simple strike.

The giant screens proclaimed his feat: ‘Harry Kane. Tottenham Hotspur. All-time record goalscorer’, it declared.

Most fans stayed behind at full-time to hear Kane address supporters them with few words from the pitch over the PA.

"It's a magical feeling doing it here in front of our home fans," he said. "He's one of our own," responded the massed South Bank.

Once more, it was agony for title-chasing City in this part of north London. They arrived having lost on their previous four visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – each time without scoring.

When it comes to Spurs, they often have a mental block – even if they did win 4-2 against them at the Etihad not so long ago.

For all their possession, Pep Guardiola’s team only looked really dangerous once before the break – when Riyad Mahrez cracked a shot against the underside of the crossbar. They didn't look that much more potent in the second half.

Spurs ended the game with 10 men after Cristian Romero was dismissed , but they seldom looked like conceding.

Tottenham missed the emotional input of Antonio Conte on the sidelines – the Spurs coach is recovering from a gallbladder operation – but their organisation and commitment under the watchful eye of Cristian Stellini, his assistant, looked sounder than in the two previous home league games this year.

Both of those ended in 2-0 defeats. This one went some way to repairing the wounds of their north London derby defeat to Arsenal last time out – even if it was a result which improves the chances of their bitter rivals taking the Premier League title this season.

City tried hard to find a way back. Kevin De Bruyne came off the bench to roll a free kick to an unmarked Julio Alvarez and it needed a deflection off Eric Dier to preserve the clean sheet.

Spurs fancied their chances on the counter and Kane almost poked home at the far post from a raking low cross from the left and he almost found a way past three defenders after being found in the inside left channel by Heung-Min Son.

But crucially, Hugo Lloris was well protected throughout and hardly dirtied his gloves.

And they even managed to cope with having only 10 men for the final three or four minutes of normal times after Romero picked up a second yellow for tripping Jack Grealish as the City player tore through the middle.

Romero had been on a tightrope from early on – having flown in recklessly to upend Erling Haaland in an attempt to lay down a marker.

The hunt for a top four place is very much back on the agenda for Conte's men.

Spurs: (3-4-2-1) Lloris – Romero, Dier, Davies – Emerson Royal, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic (Sessegnon 79) – Kulusevski (Sanchez 89), Son (Bissouma 84) – Kane. Subs not used: Forster, Skipp, Sanchez, Richarlison, Danjuma, Porro, Lenglet

Cityzens: (4-2-3-1) Ederson – Walker, Akanji, Ake, Lewis – Bernardo Silva (Gundogan 84), Rodri – Mahrez (De Buyne 59), Alvarez, Grealish – Haaland. Subs not used: Ortega, Dias, Phillips, Laporte, Gomez, Perrone, Palmer