“Harry Kane is an incredible player. What he’s done in recent years and his career is amazing, so Tammy needs to look up to that.”
So said Chelsea manager Frank Lampard on Saturday, after in-form striker Tammy Abraham struck his 10th Premier League goal of the season against Crystal Palace.
A few hours later, England captain Kane was enduring another frustrating afternoon as Tottenham were held to a 1-1 draw by Sheffield United, with the 26-year-old a largely peripheral figure.
Abraham, 22, has been included in Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad for this week’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Montenegro on Thursday and Kosovo on Sunday.
And while Kane remains the undisputed first choice, what do the numbers tell us about who should be leading the line?
Abraham for England?
Lampard believes current England captain Kane is the “next stage” for Abraham, who has already “shown there are so many parts to his game”.
However, the Chelsea striker is outperforming Kane in almost every aspect after 12 Premier League games this season.
Abraham is the English top flight’s second-highest goalscorer this term, trailing Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy by one goal (we’ll get to Vardy later).
Of the strikers included in Southgate’s Three Lions squad, Abraham is out-performing his expected goals (xG) value by the biggest margin – so far scoring three goals more than would be expected based on the chances he has had.
Among those players, the Chelsea youngster has had the most shots – 38 – but still boasts the joint-highest shot conversion rate alongside Callum Wilson, with the Bournemouth attacker registering exactly half Abraham’s number of attempts.
And he’s already mixing it with some big names in the Chelsea record books.
Abraham became the second youngest player to reach double figures for Premier League goals for Chelsea after Dutch winger Arjen Robben.
In the club’s history, only Diego Costa and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink have required fewer matches to reach 10 Premier League goals.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live as Abraham put Chelsea ahead in Saturday’s game, former Premier League midfielder Steve Sidwell said: “I played against Tammy when he was at Bristol City and you could see he had all the abilities to get to the top.
“I’ve been really impressed this season. So far this game he had not had a sniff, but he showed coolness and composure to slot that in. He’s firing on all cylinders.”
While Abraham and Chelsea are flying high, Kane’s Tottenham are struggling in 14th place in the Premier League table.
The England skipper has netted six times in 11 Premier League games so far, scoring with one in every five of his overall attempts.
That’s enough to keep Kane, 26, on track to beat his haul of 17 league goals in an injury-disrupted campaign last term, following a personal record tally of 30 in 2017-18.
But, watching Spurs for Radio 5 Live on Saturday, former goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer described Kane as “stationary”.
He added: “It’s one of the few games I’ve ever seen him play where he hasn’t really caused problems.
“He hasn’t had a lot of movement, he’s stayed very central and when they have tried to play balls up to him he was either too high or he was outnumbered and lost the ball very easily.”
