Tottenham striker Harry Kane broke the record for the most Premier League goals in a calendar year by heading his 37th of 2017 against Southampton.
The England international met Christian Eriksen’s 22nd-minute free-kick to give Spurs a 1-0 lead at Wembley and surpass Alan Shearer’s 22-year-old record before making it 2-0 on 39 minutes fro his 38th of the year.
Shearer managed his 36 goals in 42 games while playing for Blackburn in 1995, while Kane, who has missed only four league matches this year, needed just 36 appearances to go one better.
Kane’s impressive haul includes five top-flight hat-tricks and he was quickly congratulated by the man whose record he took.
Shearer tweeted: “You’ve had a magnificent 2017 @HKane. You deserve to hold the record of most @premierleague goals in a calendar year. Well done and keep up the good work
Former Arsenal forwards Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie each came close to beating Shearer’s tally in recent years, scoring 34 and 35 respectively in 2004 and 2011.
The Spurs man scored 21 goals in the 2017 portion of last season and has 16 this term – ominously for the rest of the Premier League, that is twice as many as his eight by the turn of the year last season.
Kane’s hat-trick against Burnley was his fifth of the year. He struck three times in games against West Brom, Stoke and Hull last season and four against Leicester in May.
He has scored 18 times in home games and 19 away.
May was his highest-scoring month with eight goals – one in victory over Manchester United before a barnstorming finish to last season with seven in two games as Spurs beat Leicester 6-1 and Hull 7-1.
