Lukaku v Kane - Battle of the Premier League hotshots

Hamish Williams
How do the two strikers compare?
How do the two strikers compare?

Manchester United host Tottenham on Monday night with two of the Premier League’s top strikers going head to head.

Romelu Lukaku will want to fire the Red Devils to victory and ease growing pressure on manager Jose Mourinho while Harry Kane has ended his August goal drought and will be keen to seal three points for Spurs at Old Trafford.

Here, Press Association Sport compares the record of the goalscoring duo ahead of their meeting in Manchester.

Premier League goals-per-game ratio

Lukaku has made more appearances than Kane, turning out in the Premier League for Chelsea, West Brom, Everton and United – while all of Kane’s 154 games have come in Tottenham colours.

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The England captain has scored seven more league goals than Lukaku despite playing in 68 fewer games.

Lukaku Kane

:: Premier League appearances 222 154

:: Premier League goals – 102 109

:: Goals-per-game ratio – 0.46 0.71

How they were scored

Kane has scored 14 Premier League penalties, with Lukaku scoring six times from the penalty spot.

The Manchester United man has also proven more adept with his head, scoring over 20 per-cent of his league goals with headers while it is also clear that – while Lukaku prefers his left-foot, Kane is deadly with his right.

Lukaku Kane

:: left-foot – 53 27

:: right-foot – 26 65

:: headers – 22 16

:: penalties – 6 14

In This Fixture

Despite their impressive goalscoring feats, neither player has particularly enjoyed playing against their upcoming opponents.

Lukaku has faced Spurs as a West Brom and Everton player as well as with United but has only found the back of the net once – a 3-2 defeat while playing for the Toffees in the 2016/17 season.

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Kane, too, has only scored a solitary goal against United and it took until his seventh appearance to break his duck in this fixture.

Lukaku Kane

:: appearances – 11 9

:: goals – 1 1

Season-by-season

Lukaku started out in the Premier League while Kane was still being farmed out on loan to improve his game.

While the 2012/13 season was good for Lukaku as he led the way while on loan at West Brom, he has also had campaigns where he has struggled to match his contemporary.

Kane has shown improvements in every campaign, collecting the Premier League golden boot in both 2015/16 and 2016/17, with only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah preventing him winning a hat-trick of awards despite firing in 30 goals last season.