Huddersfield Town must try to answer the question which is confounding clubs around Europe – how do you stop Harry Kane?
The Tottenham Hotspur frontman is likely to lead their attack against Town at Wembley on Saturday, bidding to build on his 24 goals so far in the Premier League .
That’s a best for the top flight – one ahead of Liverpool ’s Mo Salah – but if you think that’s impressive, take a look at his 2017-18 record overall.
In 40 appearances for club and country in all competitions, the 24-year-old Londoner has netted 39 times.
And as Town prepare to try and stop him, bearing in mind he netted twice at the John Smith’s Stadium in Spurs’ 4-0 win in September and earned a standing ovation from the Town fans, it’s probably worth noting he has scored in nine of his last 10 appearances.
In that sequence, Manchester United were the only team to prevent him scoring at the end of January, but they still lost 2-0 to goals from Christian Eriksen and Phil Jones (own goal).
Kane has tormented most opposition this season, with fans across the country hoping he can maintain his form right through into a successful World Cup campaign in summer.
Considering he’s leading scorer in the Premier League so far, it’s remarkable he didn’t score until his fourth league appearance – getting two goals in the 3-0 win at Everton .
Before that, he had drawn a blank against Newcastle United , Chelsea and Burnley, picking up only a couple of yellow cards for his trouble in those three starts.
A couple of goals against Malta in the World Cup qualifying got the ball rolling and he has barely looked back since.
At the John Smith’s , of course, Town tried to go toe-to-toe with top-six opposition for the first time and, with the help of a few careless mistakes, got mercilessly picked off.
Town learned the lessons spectacularly well for their next home outing and stunned most of the football world with a 2-1 success against Manchester United - confounding Jose Mourinho ’s side with speed, tenacity and intent.
Those qualities will be a must as Town return to the scene of their glorious SkyBet Championship Play-off Final victory over Reading , an occasion which is far from fading from memory and which, hopefully, provides a positive vibe for the whole of David Wagner ’s squad going into the Tottenham game.
A full 90 minutes of concentration will be needed by everyone, not just Christopher Schindler and Mathias 'Zanka' Jorgensen , to keep Kane and his colleagues at bay, but the good news for Wagner is that his midfield department are really producing the goods right now.
Jonathan Hogg , particularly, is showing his class while Danny Williams was vibrant against West Bromwich Albion and Alex Pritchard looks to have provided the attacking spark the team were missing from No10.
Their continued form will help the back line, although Town have strengthened in defence since they last met Spurs, with the loan arrival in the January transfer window of Terence Kongolo from AS Monaco, alongside the £10m Pritchard.
Pritchard, of course, was a Tottenham trainee, having loan spells at Peterborough United, Swindon Town, Brentford and West Brom before joining Norwich City in an £8m deal in August 2016, so he will be keen to do well against the club which first opened the door for him to the professional ranks.
Kongolo has made a very favourable impression since his arrival, adding international class and bringing aerial prowess and physical power alongside his general solid reading of the game.
He also gives the head coach the very tempting option of playing three centre-backs when the time is right.
So is the time right?
Well, it could be.
The only team to prevent Spurs from scoring at Wembley this season are Swansea City , who secured a 0-0 draw at the National Stadium back in September.
Swansea played with three centre-backs for much of that game and, while Tottenham had 75% possession and fashioned 26 shots to the visitors’ four, the Welsh side managed to frustrate the Londoners.
It was the first time in 30 home league matches that Spurs had failed to score – largely because Kane scooped the best chance of the match over the Swansea bar on 58 minutes – but the result proves it can be done.
