Everton boss admits he wouldn't swap Romelu Lukaku for anyone ahead of Tottenham clash

ROMELU LUKAKU goes head to head with Harry Kane tomorrow with Everton manager Roberto Martinez insisting he would not swap his striker for anyone in the world.

 

Everton's Romelu Lukaku and Tottenham's Harry Kane are set to go head-to-head at Goodison Park

 

The shoot-out between the forwards adds an extra layer of intrigue to a contest which will see Tottenham seek to further strengthen belief that a top four Premier League finish can be the very least of their aspirations this term.

Lukaku plundered 19 league goals in 2015, including seven in his last five games at Goodison Park, but saw that tally eclipsed by Kane who has scored 27 league goals in the calendar year. Overall, this season they have 18 and 13 goals respectively in all competitions.

The duo will continue to shape their team’s fortunes in the first half of 2016, but Martinez is happy with his talisman and recognises his side must cut out the defensive mistakes anchoring their ambition.

 

“No, I wouldn’t swap him for anyone,” he said. “You look at the attacking force that we have this campaign, and it’s very, very impressive.

“The stats don’t lie. We’ve been conceding too many goals for our liking and we need to improve on that.

“But in the same way, when you assess a defeat, you cannot be blind to the quality of our attacking play, the number of chances we create and the number of goals we score from open play, which is down to the talent and quality of our footballers.

 

“Clearly, Rom is pivotal to that.” Kane has showcased his pedigree by finding his range following a start to the campaign in which his industry did not reap it reward and will be the main danger to Everton as they seek to recover from Monday’s last-gasp defeat to Stoke.

“He’s got that mentality of scoring goals,” said Martinez. “He’s got real power and pace. It makes him a very mobile striker.

“Normally, you don’t get both together. You get the mobility or goalscoring ability. Rom and Harry have that similarity in that they can be players who drop into certain places on the pitch and they’ve got ability and good technical quality to move the ball and get at defenders.

“But then they both share a clinical goalscoring touch, which is quite difficult to find. To get both in one type of player is quite rare.” 

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