Spurs made history last night.
Trailing Leicester 2-1 in the 95th minute at the King Power, Steven Bergwijn (£1.7m) popped up to snatch what looked to be last-gasp equaliser for visitors.
However, there was still enough time remaining for the Dutchman to break free, round Kasper Schmeichel (£2.6m), and execute a pinpoint finish to grab all three points.
The north London club now hold the record for the latest a team has been losing a Premier League fixture before going on to win it – an accolade previously held by Man City against QPR in 2012: “AGUEROOOOOOOO…”
Such was the dramatic nature of the climax, something truly beautiful got lost among the chaos.
Harry Kane’s (£6.8m) throughball for Bergwijn’s winner was undoubtedly one of the best passes of the season, especially given the decisive context.
The killer pass capped an impressive all-round performance from England’s captain, who resumed the playmaking responsibilities he honed under Jose Mourinho while also threatening the goal with plenty of shots, one of which found the net.
Bergwijn may have been the hero of the moment but Kane was clearly the best player on the pitch.
A goal and an assist on top of his general influence was more than enough to earn the No10 a Star Man award on the night, meaning he banked 15 Dream Team points when all was said and done.
Yesterday we published an article looking at the dearth of points in the forward department in recent weeks due to Africa Cup of Nations departures, injuries, fixture postponements and general poor form.
We posed that the natural order of things may be restored in the evening games and our prayers were mostly answered.
Cristiano Ronaldo (£8.4m) didn’t score or assist against Brentford but he did achieve a 7+ rating while goals from Patson Daka (£2.8m) and Ivan Toney (£3.3m), two forwards ‘in and around’ the top ten, were very welcome indeed.
Kane’s haul was the most significant of course as it extended his rejuvenated form, no doubt sparked into life by the arrival of Antonio Conte.
The 28-year-old has bagged 26 points in his last three games and 54 points in his last nine.
He’s now scored 11 club goals in 2021/22 and while that number is still short of what he’d usually be on at this stage, all the signs indicate he’s gearing up for much-improved second half of the campaign.
An upturn was expected to some degree.
Conte does not suffer fools and would not have tolerated Kane’s moping, an affliction that plagued his early-season performances having failed to secure a transfer to Man City in the summer.
More broadly, the Italian tactician has re-energised the entire club in astonishingly quick time.
Under Nuno Espirito Santo, Spurs players covered the least collective kilometres per 90 minutes in the top flight – since Conte’s appointment, they’ve run further than any other team, even Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds, who were the runaway leaders in the metric last season.
It makes you wonder, just how much ketchup were the Spurs lads consuming?
Conte has overseen nine Premier League games since his return to English shores: six wins, three draws.
This unbeaten run has turned Spurs into top four favourites since they are now just one point behind West Ham with three games in hand.
Dream Team managers will undoubtedly have taken note and Kane’s recent returns are almost impossible to resist.
Having moved onto 145 points, he’s now the second-best forward in the game and the fourth-best player overall.