Romelu Lukaku or Harry Kane: which super striker is better?

It’s second versus third in the Premier League this weekend when Manchester United host Tottenham in Saturday’s early kick-off - and all eyes will be on the two super strikers Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane.

Tottenham and England star Kane leads the Premier League scoring charts with eight goals in nine matches so far this season, while United marksman Lukaku is one behind on seven.

The Belgian hasn’t scored for two matches, so will be out to break his short drought, and Kane’s eight goals came despite him not scoring in August.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As with previous seasons, Lukaku and Kane have proved their weight in goals. So the big question on the lips of football fans and pundits is this: which striker is better? Lukaku or Kane?

Ahead of its live coverage of Man Utd vs. Spurs, Sky Sports has compared the two strikers’ league statistics so far this season.

Lukaku vs. Kane: 2017-18 statistics

With both strikers key to their respective side’s success - both on Saturday and in the future - it will be a fascinating duel at Old Trafford.

When picking his Utd-Spurs combined XI, Sky Sports’ Matt Le Tissier says there is one clear choice if he had to decide between the two.

He said: “Harry Kane has to be my striker. Romelu Lukaku has had a cracking start and the two of them are excellent players, but I just think Kane’s form at the moment and over a longer period of time justifies him getting the nod.

“However, I don’t really go with the idea that Lukaku can’t score in big games. For me, it is more about the amount of chances created for him. Their games against Liverpool are a good example, with Kane having seven shots, scoring twice, whereas Lukaku had just the one effort.”

CaughtOffside takes the selection game further by naming both stars in its combined Utd-Spurs XI.

Picking as many stars as possible from both sides, Kane and Lukaku are “obvious shoe-ins” for the CaughtOffside.com team - which lines up in the “slightly shunned” 4-4-2 ‘diamond’ formation.

On Kane, the website says: “Top scorer with eight goals so far this term, it’s Tottenham’s Kane taking one of the two centre-forward spots. Would he be the narrow winner if we limited ourselves to one striker as most teams now play? We couldn’t possibly comment.”

On Lukaku: “And finally, it’s Lukaku taking the second place up front, with the summer signing from Everton narrowly behind Kane in the Golden Boot rankings at the moment, as he was last season when he also finished runner-up.”

How to watch Utd vs. Spurs

Manchester United vs. Spurs kicks off at 12.30pm on Saturday 28 October and is live on Sky Sports.