England assistant coach Gary Neville has called Harry Kane (centre) a real monster on the pitch. Kane has scored 20 goals in all competition.

For all the brilliance of the Premier League’s foreign superstars, it’s a 21-year-old Englishman who was barely known outside north London before the season that is arguably making the most startling impact this campaign. Forget Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero, Alexis Sanchez and Robin van Persie. Tottenham striker Harry Kane is the top-scoring player in English football this season with 20 goals in all competitions, and a first call-up to his national squad is surely just around the corner.

No wonder Spurs signed Kane up to a new 5-year contract this week. “He just looks to me now like a real monster on the pitch,” England assistant coach Gary Neville said. “He can do it all.”

The next defence Kane looks to plunder is Arsenal’s in the north London derby on Saturday, one of two match-ups between local rivals. The other comes at Goodison Park where Liverpool make the trip across Stanley Park to visit Everton.

With league leaders Chelsea and second-placed Manchester City facing games against struggling sides in Aston Villa and Hull, respectively, much of the focus this weekend is on the race for the other Champions League qualification spots. Six teams, separated by seven points, are fighting for two places, and four of them play direct rivals on Saturday.

Manchester United visit eighth-place West Ham and it is fifth against sixth when Tottenham host Arsenal. Kane has already shown he is no respect of reputations this season, with his best game of the season coming against what was at the time the league’s meanest defence. He scored twice in Spurs’ 5-3 win over Chelsea on New Year’s Day.

Arsenal’s defence has tightened up considerably in recent weeks, with four clean sheets in their last five games. However, Arsene Wenger’s team will need to be at its sharpest to keep out Kane, who has scored eight goals in his last eight league games. Arsenal will again be without Alexis Sanchez, who remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Sturridge’s return

Daniel Sturridge has been eased back into the Liverpool team after five months out through injury, coming off the bench and scoring in last weekend’s 2-0 win over West Ham and also being used as a substitute for the FA Cup victory at Bolton.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers might just be tempted to start Sturridge against Everton for a game that last season’s runner-up needs to win to keep the pressure on United, Southampton, Arsenal and Tottenham above them.

A front three of Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho would be a fearful proposition for opposition defences in the last few months of the season.

Coutinho has probably been Liverpool’s most influential player in their seven-match unbeaten run in the league that stretches back to the 3-0 loss to United on December 14. “He will become world class in the next couple of years,” Rodgers said after seeing Coutinho score an injury-time winner against Bolton.

Chelsea shouldn’t have a problem maintaining their five-point lead over City this weekend, they are playing a team which has not scored a league goal in more than six weeks. Aston Villa created an unwanted club record on Sunday, with a 5-0 loss to Arsenal extending their scoreless streak to six league games.

Villa’s tally of 11 goals is the worst in all four of England’s leagues, an astonishing 10 behind the joint second-worst, belonging to second-tier Sheffield Wednesday and third-tier Yeovil. Man City play their last game before the return of Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony from international duty with Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations. Hull visit Etihad Stadium having lost their last three league games to slip into the relegation zone.