Tottenham boss Conte hails ‘world class’ Kane after ‘important’ win over Crystal Palace

Antonio Conte welcomed Harry Kane as the England captain got Tottenham’s season back on track with two goals at Crystal Palace.

Kane’s double gave Spurs their first win since the World Cup and, in his 300th game, took him two places behind Jimmy Greaves to the top of the Spurs goals table and 198 goals in the Premier League.

“We’re talking about a world-class striker,” said Conte. “He will break every record with his goals. In the tough moments, you know Harry is on the pitch, ready to fight, ready to help teammates, ready to sort things out with goals and assists.

Antonio Conte welcomed Harry Kane after Tottenham beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park

Conte went out of his way to praise young players Oliver Skipp, Pape Matar Sarr and Bryan Gil, comparing Gil to Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva but said he hopes Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur and Richarlison will return in time from injury there’s Arsenal, in the Premier League on a Sunday week.

“It was an important win,” said the Spurs boss. “We know that after Saturday we will face Arsenal and Manchester City in the FA Cup, the two title contenders for this Premier League. It’s really important to come away with a good win.

“I hope to heal injured players. We’re talking about important players. I hope to have all these players available in these 10 days, Richarlison, Kulusevski and Bentancur.’

Kane scored a brace to help Tottenham ahead of Crystal Palace’s 4-0 on Wednesday night

The Tottenham striker opened the scoring with a close-range header in the 48th minute

He was also delighted with the reaction to Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat by Aston Villa. “It was important to get three points, get the win, score four goals and not concede a goal,” said Conte. “That kind of victory brings confidence. The game against Aston Villa, after a good first half, we conceded the goal and our confidence dropped a lot.

“Recovering and walking away in two or three days after a home defeat where a win was expected was not easy.”

Crystal Palace were the better team in the first half but collapsed when they fell behind with two goals from Kane early in the second half. Matt Doherty and Sno Heung-min completed the scoring.

“What cost us was the quality of Tottenham’s strikers,” said Palace manager Patrick Vieira. “We gave them too much space and if you do that you will be punished. The frustration is that we didn’t take our chances.

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Matt Doherty provided the final nail in the coffin after scoring Tottenham’s fourth and final goal