Kane hails Tottenham team-mate Alli

Tottenham Hotspur's Dele Alli celebrates scoring his side's first goal against Watford (pic Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images

Dele’s like Lampard says striker

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Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane applauds the fans following the Premier League match against Watford (pic Victoria Jones/PA) Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane applauds the fans following the Premier League match against Watford (pic Victoria Jones/PA)

Harry Kane says Dele Alli reminds him of Frank Lampard – and he has challenged his Tottenham team-mate to reach the 20-goal mark in the Premier League before the end of the season.

Having scored a crucial equaliser at Swansea last Wednesday, starting the comeback that secured a dramatic 3-1 win, Alli also broke the deadlock against Watford on Saturday with a sublime 25-yard strike, sending Spurs on their way to a 4-0 victory.

The 20-year-old has now scored six goals in seven games in all competitions for Spurs, and has registered 16 times in the top flight this term.

That makes him the joint-sixth highest scorer in the Premier League rankings – level with Sergio Aguero – and he is just three goals behind second-placed Kane.

“It’s good, I told him to try to catch me,” said Kane. “I told him to try to get that 20-goal mark - for a midfielder that’s unbelievable.

“I said earlier in the season that if you want to be title contenders you need two or three players getting double figures, and if another player can get 20-plus goals this season it really helps the team.

“Dele has been fantastic. To get 16 Premier League goals this year has been amazing. Hopefully he can get to that 20-mark and I can get to that 25-mark and we’ll see what happens.

“He’s got that mentality when he’s in the box. You saw against Swansea in midweek, just that reading of where the ball is going to land and getting a tap-in – they’re important.

“You used to see players like Lampard doing that all the time. He’s a similar sort of player. That’s what Dele’s got to try to do - get goals season in, season out, inside the box, outside the box like on Saturday, all different types of goals.

“He’s a fantastic player. You saw it last season, you’re seeing it this season. He’s added a lot more goals this year and that’s important for him and the team. He creates goals, he gets assists, he’s fantastic on the ball. He’s a great player and he’s only getting better.”

There were fears when Kane suffered an ankle ligament injury against Millwall last month that the goals might dry up at Tottenham, but those concerns have been ill-founded.

In addition to Alli’s contributions, Christian Eriksen has struck three times in the last five matches, while Heung-Min Son has scored seven goals in that spell.

“He (Son) is a goal-scorer - that’s his 11th league goal of the season,” said Kane. “Right and left foot, he can go either way. He’s got fantastic technique and I think he’s growing in confidence.

“The more he scores, the more he shoots and feels confident - even after that one he missed at the end [on Saturday]!

“He’ll go again next week and be on the scoresheet. He’s also got great crosses so he’s another attacking midfielder/striker who can score and assist goals, which is great for us.

“When you look at the games when I’ve not been involved this season, we’re still scoring goals, we’re still winning games. It shows the strength in our squad.

“Sonny’s been great, I thought Vincent [Janssen] was brilliant on Saturday and obviously Dele is getting goals. Christian’s been in great form – it’s everyone. “Obviously I never want to have an off-day. I don’t think like that - I always want to score and help my team. But it’s important that if I don’t score, other people are scoring and we’re winning games.

“The most important thing as a striker is not to put too much pressure on yourself, to be free - which I am - and have people around me assisting and scoring.”

Tottenham’s wealth of attacking options was underlined by the fact they were already 4-0 up when Kane came off the bench on his return from injury on Saturday.

But he is keen to start scoring again, not least because he is still in the running for the Golden Boot, despite having two spells on the sidelines this season.

Everton’s Romelu Lukaku struck twice on Sunday to move four goals clear of the Tottenham striker, but Kane said: “There are seven games left in the league and hopefully I can stay fit for them, and we’ll see what happens.

“The most important thing is winning games and hopefully continuing the form I was in before I got injured.

“I knew after a few days that [the injury] wasn’t as bad as the first one so straight away I wanted to get back. This game [against Watford] and the Bournemouth game were kind of my targets so it’s gone brilliantly really - I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better. It was great to be back out there.

“[The ankle] is probably not 100 per cent. Even when I came back last time for the Arsenal game it wasn’t 100 per cent, but it’s getting close. It gives me another week now to prepare and I’m pretty sure it’ll be 100 per cent against Bournemouth next week.

“It felt great out there, I didn’t feel anything on it - even at the end [when I went over after a tackle]. That was part of the reason I wanted to play, I wanted to feel that contact – that’s part of the game. I want to get back to normal as soon as possible so it was good to get 30 minutes and get that feeling back.”

Tottenham moved four points behind Chelsea after winning Saturday’s early fixture against Watford, only to see the league leaders beat Bournemouth later in the day and stretch their lead back out to seven points.

There will now be a similar scenario this coming weekend – but Spurs have reason to hope they can close the gap more permanently this time.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Lilywhites host Bournemouth in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, having won their last 14 home games in all competitions – and Chelsea then face a tough test on Sunday when they visit Manchester United and their former manager Jose Mourinho.

“Last year, when we were always playing second [each weekend] and Leicester always won, the pressure was on us to try to catch them. It was difficult,” said Kane.

“All we can do when we play early is put the pressure on. It was a fantastic result on Saturday, we’ve been brilliant at home and to kill the game off in the first half showed a great attitude.”

Follow @BenPearceSpurs on Twitter and see his Facebook page at facebook.com/BenPearceSpurs.