Kane fires Spurs, West Ham win piles pressure on Gerrard

Harry Kane's double earned a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest that lifted Tottenham to third in the Premier League, while Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard is under intense pressure after a 1-0 defeat against West Ham on Sunday.

Antonio Conte's side have made an encouraging start to the campaign. Kane ensured they maintained that momentum at the City Ground.

The England captain put Tottenham ahead with a clinical finish after collecting Dejan Kulusevski's pass just outside the Forest area in the fifth minute.

It was Kane's 200th league goal, including his Tottenham career and loan spells at Millwall, Leicester and Leyton Orient.

Kane wasted a chance to increase Tottenham's lead 11 minutes after half-time when Steve Cook handled Ivan Perisic's cross.

Dean Henderson saved Kane's penalty as he missed from the spot in the league for the first time since 2018.

Kane made amends with his fourth goal this season in the 81st minute.

Richarlison won the ball back and crossed for the striker to head into the empty net.

With three wins from four games, Tottenham are level on points with second placed Manchester City and two points behind leaders Arsenal as the two north London rivals set the early pace.

"The game was really tough. To play in this stadium is not easy. There is a lot of noise around the pitch," Conte said.

"Forest won many duels but in the second half I thought we did much better to control the game.

"The players are improving in their resilience and learning to suffer together and be compact."

West Ham arrived at Villa Park bottom of the table after losing their first three games without scoring.

Pablo Fornals' goal late in the second half ended West Ham's wait to get off the mark as they climbed out of the relegation zone.

Fornals'