Harry Kane challenges Tottenham team-mate Dele Alli to win the Premier League golden boot

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Tom Collomosse10 April 2017

Harry Kane has challenged Dele Alli to seize the Premier League golden boot from him.

With 16 goals in the league this season, Alli is only three behind his Tottenham team-mate Kane, who won the award last term. With seven games remaining, Everton forward Romelu Lukaku leads the way with 23 goals.

Kane, Alli and Heung-min Son – who has 11 – have all moved into double figures in the league this term. Alli, who turns 21 on Tuesday, has 19 in all competitions and Kane said: “I told him to try to catch me. I have told him to try to get that 20-goal mark in the league, which is unbelievable for a midfielder.

“Dele is a fantastic player. You saw it last season and you’re seeing it this season. He has added a lot more goals to his game this year (Alli scored 10 in 2015-16) which is important for him and the team.

Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
Dan Mullan/Getty Images

“He’s creative, he gets assists, he is fantastic on the ball. He is a great player who is only getting better and it is important he keeps working hard. If he does, he’ll improve throughout his career.

“I said earlier in the season that if you want to be title contenders, you need two or three players getting double figures. If more than one player can reach 20 goals this season, it will really help the team.

“For Dele to get 16 league goals this season is amazing. Hopefully he can get to 20, I can get to 25 and we will see what happens. When you look at the eight league games I’ve missed this season due to injury, we’ve won five and drawn three.

“So we’re still scoring goals and still winning games, which shows the strength in our squad. Heung-min Son has been great, Dele is getting goals, Christian Eriksen has been in great form and I thought Vincent Janssen was brilliant against Watford.

“It is important we keep that up now until the end of the season and put as much pressure on Chelsea as we can.”

Kane also acknowledged that his ankle was still not in full working order after a lightning recovery allowed him to return to action against Watford on Saturday.

When Kane damaged ligaments in the 6-0 FA Cup win over Millwall on March 12, he was expected to be absent for about six weeks. Yet the 23-year-old’s absence lasted only 27 days, and he was able to come on as a substitute for the final half-hour of Tottenham’s 4-0 win.

He added: “The ankle is probably not 100 per cent, but it’s getting close. When I came back from injury last time for the Arsenal game [on November 6] it wasn’t 100 per cent.

“I now have another week to prepare and I’m pretty sure it will be 100 per cent for the Bournemouth game this Saturday. It felt great against Watford, though, and I didn’t feel any pain, even when I was tackled.

“That was part of the reason I wanted to play. I wanted to feel that contact. I want to get back to normal as soon as possible, so it was good to play 30 minutes and get that feeling back.”

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