Luke Shaw has declared Harry Kane "the best striker in the world" and says his team-mate's goalless start to Euro 2020 is no concern to England.
Kane fired a blank in England's 1-0 win over Croatia in last week's Group D opener and was again off the pace as the Three Lions were held 0-0 by Scotland on Friday.
The Tottenham man managed just 19 touches before being substituted in the 74th minute – the fewest he has ever had in an England game when playing more than 45 minutes.
The last time he had fewer touches for Spurs while playing for more than 45 minutes was against Manchester City in April 2018 (17 touches in 90 minutes).
But despite Kane failing to register a shot on target in two successive games for club or country for the first time since November, Shaw insists the England skipper's pedigree cannot be questioned.
"There's no concern at all. Personally, I think he's the best striker in the world," Shaw said of the 2018 World Cup Golden Boot winner and three-time Premier League top scorer.
"He is a very important part of the team, in fact the most important part. I think whether he has not been at his best or not he is a massive part and a crucial player for us.
"We need him whether his performances are as people expected or not, but this happens in tournament football.
"You can score a goal at any moment and he is such a crucial player – not just on the pitch but off the pitch. He has got all of our backing and I'm not worried at all."
England were frustrated by spirited rivals Scotland on Friday in the first goalless match between the sides at Wembley in 33 meetings.
Gareth Southgate's men could have confirmed a place in the knockout stages with victory, but they now have work to do in their final group match against the Czech Republic.
The Three Lions are behind the Czechs on goal difference ahead of Tuesday's match, meaning a win is required if they are to finish top.
Following criticism on the back of the toothless display against Scotland, Shaw has put the stalemate into perspective with England as good as assured of a last-16 spot.
"There is no denying that there is a lot of disappointment," he said.
"We would have liked to win the game but you have to look at it in the way of another point in the right direction.
"If it was the other way round, we drew with Croatia and won today, it would have been four points still so we have to keep positive.
"I think there should always be expectation, the team we have, the talent is very strong.
"Of course we can take the expectation but maybe this result brought us back down to earth to make us realise it is not going to be easy."
England, who have never made it beyond the semi-finals of the European Championships, are on course to meet either Portugal, France, Germany or Hungary in the next round.
Taking positives from a 14th clean sheet in 18 matches for England in all competitions, Shaw added: "Our aim is to be here for seven games.
"We will sit down and watch the game back and analyse what we want to do better because there are things we could have done better as a team.
"Maybe in this game we weren't at our best and that shows, but it is another clean sheet.
"We still have another big game on Tuesday and we have to forget about this one and be ready."
Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy goals secure vital Leicester win over West Brom
Leicester returned to the top of the Championship with a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion and two more victories from their remaining three games would secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Enzo Maresca’s side could go up on Tuesday if they beat Southampton at the King Power Stadium.
Jamie Vardy’s 15th league goal of the season effectively sealed the victory and made up for him missing a penalty in the first half.
Leicester took the lead through Wilfred Ndidi in the 22nd minute after Albion had dominated the early stages and missed a string of chances to take the lead.
West Brom manager Carlos Corberan will wonder how his side managed to squander so many oppportunities to score, and their second successive defeat means their play-off place is by no means certain.
They did eventually find the net through their captain, Jed Wallace, with 14 minutes left, but could not force an equaliser.
Leicester’s win owes much to central midfielder Hamza Choudhury who made three goal-line clearances – two of them coming within seconds of one another.
But with both teams recording a combined total of almost 30 shots, the game was partly a tale of the opportunities that were squandered.
West Brom could have had the match won inside the first 20 minutes. With Maresca’s team playing out from the back, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall passed the ball straight to Okay Yukuslu, but he put his hurried shot over the bar.
Mikey Johnston was then involved on three occasions, seeing an effort cleared off the line after 14 minutes. He then had a shot saved by Leicester keeper Mads Hermansen before putting another chance over the bar.
Leicester made Albion pay for their wastefulness in front of goal by taking the lead. Stephy Mavididi pulled the ball back for defender Wout Faes who crossed for Vardy. His header was kept out by Albion goalkeeper Alex Palmer but Ndidi converted the rebound from close range.
Maresca’s side looked set to take a two-goal advantage into the break. Vardy ran on to a long ball from Hermansen a minute before half-time and was pushed over by West Brom defender Conor Townsend in the 18 yard box. Vardy had scored four penalties from four this season, but he hit the post from his fifth spot kick of the campaign.
Choudhury then cleared off the line twice in the space of a few seconds after 51 minutes. First, he blocked a shot from Yann M’Vila and then denied Grady Diangana. The drama continued as, from the resulting corner, Kyle Bartley headed against the bar with Diangana unable to get the vital touch from close range.
Again, Albion were punished for missing their chances as Vardy increased Leicester’s lead after 65 minutes. Choudhury found Abdul Fatawu on the right and his cross was met by Vardy who headed in from close range.
West Brom finally found the net when defender Cedric Kipre’s inch-perfect pass found Wallace who slid the ball past Hermansen.
Chelsea stun Barcelona to take first-leg lead back to Stamford Bridge
Erin Cuthbert gave Chelsea a priceless first-leg lead in their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona after inflicting a first home defeat for five years on the holders.
Cuthbert’s 40th-minute strike was enough to secure a 1-0 win at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys – Barca’s first defeat of the season – on an afternoon when the Blues produced a superb defensive display to deny the free-scoring defending champions a single shot on target.
Things might have been different, however, had referee Stephanie Frappart not been advised to review her decision to award the hosts a second-half penalty for handball to leave Emma Hayes and her players with something to defend at Stamford Bridge next Saturday.
Jess Carter and Kadeisha Buchanan had to be resilient at the heart of the Blues defence early on, although it took a well-timed intervention by Ingrid Engen to prevent Johanna Rytting Kaneryd from making the most of Cuthbert’s 10th-minute ball over the top.
Carter had to be in the right place at the right time to block Salma Paralluelo’s 16th-minute shot after a pacy break by Aitana Bonmati and Buchanan was equally alert to deny the same player after she had burst clear six minutes later.
The visitors were growing into the game with Mayra Ramirez making in-roads down the left and they got their reward five minutes before the break when Sjoeke Nusken held the ball up and then squared for Cuthbert, whose shot looped up off Engel and over keeper Catalina Coll.
But they looked to be in trouble seconds later when the referee awarded a penalty against Buchanan after she had blocked Patri Guijarro’s goal-bound effort with her arm, only for a lengthy VAR review, which showed that Paralluelo had been offside in the build-up, to come to their rescue.
Paralluelo volleyed horribly wide after being picked out at the far post by Caroline Graham Hansen and substitute Alexia Putellas missed the target with salvation beckoning with the final kick of the game.
Philippe Clement urges Rangers to rediscover their composure for Hearts cup semi
Philippe Clement is adamant under-pressure Rangers will focus fully on playing to their own strengths in Sunday’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final with Hearts.
The Ibrox side head into the Hampden showdown on the back of a damaging run of two wins from their last eight games in all competitions, with their cinch Premiership title bid having been dented significantly by a return of just two points from their last three matches.
Hearts, by contrast, go into the match buoyed by back-to-back wins over St Mirren and Livingston and are 11 points clear of their nearest rivals in their quest to secure third place in the table.
Clement dismissed any notion that his side must adapt their game-plan in any way to deal with Steven Naismith’s on-form team and instead must simply attempt to play their own game to a higher standard than they have been recently.
“I don’t counter anything,” he said. “We will play our own game, we don’t need to counter another team.
“We are going to play our own game and believe in ourselves and show our qualities.
“To win we need a better performance than we had on Wednesday (in the 0-0 draw at Dundee), for sure. We need to do the right things against Hearts who have played a very good season.
“It’s a very interesting test for the players and I know they are all hungry to go to the final. They’ve had the experience of going to a final and winning it (the Viaplay Cup) and some of them have won several already so the mood is big.”
Clement felt some anxiety crept into Rangers’ play on Wednesday and caused them to go too direct, so he has called for them to rediscover their composure when in possession.
“Against Dundee we were too direct so we lost the balance in that way,” he said. “Sometimes we wanted to play too fast and it’s finding that good balance by showing it with images and what we need to do and take lessons out of that.
“Maybe the hunger was too big to go too fast forward. We need to find a good balance and do that in a better way against Hearts.”
Rangers have been subjected to ferocious criticism recently and Clement admits he will find out a lot about his players in terms of how they respond under pressure in the coming weeks.
“It is easy to be good and be happy when it goes easy,” he said. “It is when the going gets tough you see the personality and the character.
“Players can grow in this. It is a growing experience. It is not only from nature that you have this, you can grow in that.
“That is an important part of being part of this club. It is also something that Nils (Koppen, director of football recruitment) knows really well, it is something to look at in recruitment also.”
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