Robin van Persie vs Harry Kane - at their best, who was better?

 

It's Tuesday, and that means we delve into the next edition of our fantasy head-to-head series. Last week we took a look at Nemanja Vidic and his top-rated campaign compared to Vincent Kompany as the Manchester rivals fell under the microscope. Next up is another rivalry that gets the fantasy treatment as we move south to London. 

 

 

The vote for this head-to-head wasn't particularly close as Robin van Persie vs Harry Kane secured a 42% share of the three options on Twitter as Arsenal and Tottenham lock horns once more. For this one, we will take a look at Van Persie's 2011/12 campaign for the Gunners. Granted, Van Persie's best rated Premier League season was 2009/10, but having made just 16 league appearances, we opted to focus on his top scoring campaign and one that prompted a contensious move to Manchester United in 2012. 

 

In the case of Kane, the Tottenham marksman's top rated season came in 2016/17. It wasn't his most prolific, yet the England captain and Spurs star yielded a WhoScored rating of 7.68 that campaign as Spurs produced their best ever points total and highest Premier League finish in their history as they earned 86 points to finish second to London rivals Chelsea. 

 

In a season Kane took the Premier League by storm, the English hitman bagged 29 league goals and provided an additional seven assists for Mauricio Pochettino's side. His WhoScored rating was the fourth best in the Premier League as he won the Golden Boot by four goals, with Romelu Lukaku his closest competitor for the award. 

 

What was impressive about Kane's goal return was the ruthlessness in his finishing in that campaign. 132 players mustered 25 or more shots in 2016/17 and of those 132 players, Kane's conversion rate of 26.4% was the third best in the Premier League behind Olivier Giroud (30.8%) and future Spurs teammate Fernando Llorente (28.8%). No player scored more clear-cut goalscoring chances than Kane (18) that campaign, which highlighted both a knack for working his way into goalscoring positions and his prolificacy when picked out by a teammate. 

 

Bettering his goal return the previous season (25) proved Kane wasn't just a one-season wonder as he established himself as one of the finest frontmen in the Premier League. However, as impressive as Kane has been in his Premier League career, he is yet to put up the same numbers Van Persie managed in his final campaign in an Arsenal shirt. 

 

Robin van Persie vs Harry Kane - at their best, who was better?

 

The flying Dutchman was unstoppable in 2011/12 as he rattled in 30 league goals and provided an additional 10 assists as Van Persie had a direct hand in 54.5% of Arsenal's top-flight goals that season. Van Persie, along with former Arsenal teammate Emmanuel Adebayor, was one of only two players to register double figures for both goals and assists in a stunning season that saw the striker yield a WhoScored rating of 7.80, that better than any other player. 

 

That season saw Van Persie score more clear-cut goalscoring chances (21) than any other player and, impressively, create more clear-cut opportunities (21) and with more prolific teammates in support, then the number of assists would have been higher. A conversion rate of 17.4% may have been lower than Kane's in 2016/17, yet Van Persie did more than enough to earn a high profile move to Manchester United, which ultimately saw him win his first Premier League winners' medal. 

 

It's a shame that Van Persie and Kane never did battle in a North London Derby as it would have been a real life battle between two of the Premier League's finest frontmen on their day and while Kane would put in a 30-goal season in 2017/18, Van Persie's individual campaign was better than his Spurs adversary has managed in his English top-flight career. Of course, Kane's 2016/17 was made all the more impressive by the fact he missed eight league matches and it's highly likely he would have put in his first 30-goal campaign that season had he played the full 38 matches as Van Persie did in 2011/12, but the creative side to the latter's game sees him edge out the former in this head-to-head.

Robin van Persie vs Harry Kane - at their best, who was better?