Harry Kane’s header gives Tottenham dramatic 3-2 win at Manchester City

Harry Kane always believed that he would have a say in the destination of the Premier League title. It was just that he thought he would be helping Manchester City towards it rather than standing in their way.

The England captain’s desire to join City last summer has been well-documented. Tottenham simply said no. Kane seemed determined to show City what they were missing here.

Kane was simply superb from start to finish, producing one of the finest individual performances of the season. He played a role in Dejan Kulusevski’s early opener and, after Ilkay Gündogan had capitalised on a Hugo Lloris error to equalise for City, Kane made it 2-1 midway through the second-half, advertising the statement victory that Antonio Conte has craved.

During a dramatic finale, it looked as if it would elude Spurs. Kane had seen a goal for 3-1 ruled out by VAR for a marginal offside against Kulusevski in the build-up and then, with the 90 minutes almost up, the technology would intervene to award City a penalty, the replays showing that Cristian Romero had handled a cross-cum-shot from Bernardo Silva. Riyad Mahrez, on as a substitute, swept into the top corner.

And yet there was still time for a further twist. Kulusevski crossed from the right and, with the City defence static, Kane rose to head into the bottom corner. Spurs’s quest for a top four finish has an injection of belief but City saw their lead over Liverpool, winners over Norwich earlier in the day, cut to six points.

It felt like a long time ago that Spurs were beating City 1-0 at home on the opening weekend of the season because plenty has changed in north London, not least the identity of the manager. Even in victory over City, which was a third straight home league win