Jose Mourinho hailed the understanding between Harry Kane and Son Heung-min after the pair helped Tottenham return to winning ways in the Premier League with a hard-fought battle at Burnley.
Minutes after Kane cleared off the line to keep the score goalless, the England captain flicked on Erik Lamela’s corner towards the back post, where Son reacted quickest to direct his header into the top corner.
It was the 29th time the South Korea forward and Kane have combined for a goal in the top-flight and it proved the difference as Spurs comfortably held on to claim a 1-0 win to draw a line under the fiasco against West Ham.
These are the wins! We showed our fighting side👊🏽. Love it! COYS🤍 pic.twitter.com/g89ZHV21na — Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (@hojbjerg23) October 26, 2020
Tottenham conceded three times in the final 10 minutes to draw 3-3 last weekend but, while they were far from their best at Turf Moor, they did enough to claim the three points and their first clean sheet in the league this season.
Mourinho was quick to highlight the contribution of his star forwards, as the Tottenham head coach said: “They play together for quite a long time.
“They were in the team that is different from this team but they played together for a long time and that immediately gives a good understanding between the players.
“The way we are trying to play goes in the direction of their qualities. They are enjoying, they are very good friends which is important when you have top players in the team.
“It’s important that the personal relations is very, very good because in the end there is no egos. What matters is the team.
“It is amazing they are two fantastic players but here we were a team and we were a team suffering together after West Ham. We felt the pain together and here we are enjoying together.”
Anything that makes Sonny smile is a good thing! 😁 Proper battling win that. Great result on the road 💪 #COYS pic.twitter.com/91JfL5dDQA — Harry Kane (@HKane) October 26, 2020
It was far from a fluent performance from the visitors, who had registered 31 goals in their last nine matches and 19 in their most recent four.
And Mourinho said: “This is the kind of match with all the ingredients to lose points – Monday night, empty stadium, a cold and rainy night and an opponent that defends very, very well to cope with the attacking power of an opponent like us – unless you want very, very much to win.
“When you want very, very much to win matches, that’s when you can do something special. We coped well with difficulties on the pitch and have three important points.”
Tottenham moved into the top five with victory but asked whether he feels they can mount a title challenge, Mourinho immediately played down the prospect.
He added: “I will never consider ourselves title contenders.”
Defeat was harsh on Burnley, whose winless run this season was extended to five matches.
While they remain on one point – collected against West Brom last week – Clarets manager Dyche believes they are starting to come into their own.
Dyche said: “The disappointment was only really the soft sort of goal because we defended very well.
“I thought there were loads of positives. There are good signs from the group who I know and trust and take great pride in how they work.
“The training pitch, where the work the staff and players are putting in was on show and I think it’s been on show in the last two games – that’s an important factor because performances over a season will look after us.”
