Tottenham Hotspur ’s inconsistency finally made a long-awaited return during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Spurs failed to record a single shot on target throughout the whole game, as their front three of Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane all struggled to trouble the Brighton backline. It was a huge blow to Tottenham's top four hopes under Antonio Conte after a string of impressive performances in recent weeks.
And Gabby Agbonlahor has not held back in his criticism of Kane. The England captain has been slammed by the former Aston Villa striker for his spontaneous trip to watch The Masters in America last week following a “jet-lagged” performance.
Speaking on talkSPORT ’s GameDay – Your Verdict, Agbonlahor said: “I think little things [make a difference], if you’re Harry Kane for instance, I’m his biggest fan, but if you’re flying after the Aston Villa game to The Masters, doing that travelling and coming back, and then putting in that performance, questions have to be asked on Harry Kane.
“Was that the right thing for him to go and do? Because they were toothless going forward Spurs, no shots on target. Every time they seem to get a little bit of an edge against Arsenal and Manchester United, they throw it away. 100 per cent he would have had approval [to go], but the way he played, it seemed like he was jet-lagged, it wasn’t the Harry Kane we’re used to seeing.
“And every time they seem to get a lead in this race for top four, they keep letting Manchester United back into it, especially Arsenal as well. So as much as we keep looking at fixtures and what the results are going to be, these teams look like they could lose any game, any week.”
Do you expect Tottenham to still finish in the top four after Saturday's defeat? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Following Tottenham ’s 4-0 victory away to Aston Villa last weekend, in which they moved three points clear in fourth-place ahead of Arsenal after a fourth successive Premier League win, Kane jetted off to the United States to watch the final round of the Masters that took place the next day.
He was present to see Scottie Scheffler win the iconic tournament before jetting back to London for Spurs training in the week. But he endured a tough return against Brighton as Spurs missed a major opportunity to strengthen their grip on a Champions League place.
Another victory would have allowed Tottenham to open up a six point gap between themselves and fifth-place, especially since Arsenal lost their third game in a row on the same day, but with Manchester United beating Norwich City, the gap remains at three points.
It will be seen as a huge waste of an opportunity and Spurs can now only hope that this result won’t come back to haunt them at the end of the campaign. They are back in action at Brentford on Saturday evening (April 23, 5:30pm).
