Harry Kane has one tin can left on the firing range shelf, but Neil Warnock is determined that Cardiff City do not get blown away on New Year’s Day.
England striker Kane had a year to cherish in 2018, but the Tottenham striker remains unfulfilled in one sense.
Kane may have begun last year by scoring in Wales against Newport County in the FA Cup, but Cardiff City are the only Premier League team he has never scored against.
Yet Bluebirds manager Warnock is firm in his belief that his team can keep their goal – and that statistic – intact.
“We hope that record will continue and it will be nice if it does. We did well against him at Wembley,” said Warnock.
“We’ve coped quite well with a lot of top strikers this season and he’s just another one. On a good day, though, it doesn’t matter what you do against Harry Kane because he will cut you to shreds.
“He is the real deal, a good person who epitomises everything that’s good about English football. He’s hard working, clinical, a captain, a leader and talker.
“I didn’t like him confronting Joe Ralls after he got sent off at Wembley, but I could understand why he did it because he was looking after his own players. He’s just a good player.”
Kane was at the centre of a diving controversy in Tottenham’s shock 3-1 defeat against Wolves at Wembley at the weekend and Warnock will once again underline to his players the need to be squeaky clean when they are defending.
“Before my players go out I tell them to not even breathe on a player in the box because they’ll go down,” said Warnock.
“I watched our penalty at Leicester and, yes, you can give it because Morrison’s arm went up, but I don’t think it was anywhere near as much as the Southampton lad against Man City. He didn’t get a penalty against him, yet it was far worse than what Sean did.
“It depends what referee you get nowadays. It’s so difficult to see diving and you can’t blame referees.
“That’s just how it is nowadays. The reason the bigger clubs get more of the decisions is that they have more of the ball, 60 or 70 per cent possession.
“It’s very difficult for referees and that’s why I think VAR is going to be a good thing. It will clear up 90 per cent of the decisions and it will really help.”
Spurs shot six goals past Everton in their last away game and are currently in third place in the table having lost only five times this season. Cardiff were hit by a five goal salvo from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s revitalised Manchester Untied side in their last home game.
“We’ve really improved at the back in the last couple of games after that Man United debacle. We’ e got to keep working on that line,” admitted Warnock, who saw his side follow up their goalless draw at former club Crystal Palace on Boxing Day with a first away win of the season at Leicester last weekend.
“This is a shot to nothing for us against Spurs. If you had said to me at the start of the season we’d get four points from our three Christmas fixtures I’d have bitten your hand off.
“It’s another massive challenge, a bit like our last home game against Man United. Spurs have got so many quality players and they have done a fabulous job this year.
“They have one bad result and it’s a catastrophe in the press, but they have improved as a squad year on year and it’s a very exciting club with the prospect of going into their new stadium.
“I really admire Pochettino and his staff, but I don’t think they’re title contenders. They’re going to have a great season and they would be contenders in a normal situation.
“But we’ve just got two incredible teams at the moment and one of them is flying. If Liverpool get a result on Thursday against Man City then it is very difficult to see anyone else winning it.”