Tottenham Hotspur face Chelsea this weekend and it will be a straight shootout between two of the Premier League’s best strikers, Harry Kane and Tammy Abraham.
On the chalkboard
The two England centre-forwards have been in excellent form this term.
Kane, thus far, has hit nine Premier League goals in 16 games, while also registering two assists, and has two in his last three, with both coming in the 5-0 thumping of Burnley.
Abraham, by comparison, has 11 in 16, along with three assists, in his 16 outings, and has one in his last three, scoring in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
It is instructive, though, that seven of Abraham’s goals, or more than half, came in a three-game period; he scored successive braces against Norwich City and Sheffield United in August, before scoring a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Wolves in September.
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Is Kane the better striker, then, and was Abraham merely going through a bit of a hot streak?
Well, not quite. Kane’s goalscoring has been more even in terms of his lack of hat-tricks and braces but he has gone successive games without scoring on three occasions. He is, though, a proven goalscorer at the highest level. He has scored 15 or more goals in every season he has been a regular starter for Spurs, from 2014/15 onwards.
Abraham, by comparison, has only ever scored 16 goals in the top-flight, though he was prolific in the second-tier, scoring 48 times in 78 games.
In total, he has 108 goals in 212 games. Kane has 206 in 353. The ratio for Abraham’s goals-per-game is 0.5. Kane’s is 0.58.
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On the come up
Abraham is showing signs that he can potentially match Kane’s goalscoring feats.
He has been a routine goalscorer for years, scoring 23 for Bristol City in the Championship in 2016/17 and, although he scored just five for Swansea in 17/18, he then hit 25 for Villa last term.
This season, he is on course to score 26 goals if he continues his current averages.
Kane, meanwhile, would score 21.
The signs are there, then, that Abraham is a rising star who could eventually match Kane’s exploits. This weekend, though, will be a major test for both men.
If Abraham outscores the one-time World Cup Golden Boot winner this weekend then Spurs could well be beaten.
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