Harry Kane says the chance to stop Chelsea breaking a Premier League record of 14 straight victories is added motivation for Tottenham when they host the league leaders on Wednesday.
Chelsea have won 13 league consecutive matches, including a 2-1 win over Spurs at Stamford Bridge in November, and they will break Arsenal’s record, set in 2002, with another victory at White Hart Lane.
There is no love lost between the two sides, particularly after the Blues’ ended Spurs’ title hopes last season, but Kane says stopping Chelsea making history is firing them up.
“Definitely, we don’t want to be the team that lets them break that record. Of course we know, that’s in our mind — we were talking about it in the changing room after the game against Watford,” Kane told Ham and High.
“We don’t want to be that team they break the record against so we’re fully focused. It’s going to be a great game and we’re excited for it.
“We’re in better form than when we last played them [in November] but they are probably as well — since then they’ve won every game.”
Chelsea came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Spurs in a foul-tempered match at Stamford Bridge in May — a result that ended Spurs’ title hopes and confirmed Leicester City as Premier League champions.
Spurs have more points this season than at the same stage last term, when they finished third, but they are one place lower in the table, and asked if they are now a better team, Kane said: “I think so yes, 100 percent.
“We’re four points better off than at this stage last season and we’ve probably not played as well as we did last season either. It shows we’re on the right track.
“A lot of us are bigger, stronger, better and more experienced so hopefully we can continue that through the second half of the season.”
Kane’s double against Watford on New Year’s Day continued his remarkable record in the capital, taking his tally to 18 goals in 17 London derbies.
The 23-year-old’s coming-of-age performance was Tottenham’s 5-3 win over Chelsea on New Year’s Day 2015, when he scored two brilliant goals.
“Before that game I think I had scored goals against a few lesser teams in the league, and I was excited to see if I could mix it a bit against the best defenders,” he said.
“I think they had the best defence in the league at the time and that gave me a lot of confidence, knowing I could do it against the best. That was definitely a big point in my career that I look back on as propelling me forward.”
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