Tottenham's Harry Kane swore on daughter's life that he scored controversial goal in 2018 | OneFootball

Harry Kane was chasing his third consecutive Premier League Golden Boot in 2017/18.

Having topped the goalscoring charts during the previous two seasons, the Tottenham Hotspur forward was doing his best to close in on Mohamed Salah during the final months of the campaign.

As such, Kane was happy with any goal that came his way regardless of how tenuous it might have been and that was certainly the case during Spurs' 2-1 win at Stoke City on April 7.

Kane's contentious goal vs Stoke

That's because the England captain claimed the winning goal despite footage neither proving nor disputing suggestions that he touched the ball with the scores locked at 1-1 at the Bet365 Stadium.

Christian Eriksen had already opened the scoring - though Mame Biram Diouf eventually equalised - when it looked as though he'd doubled his money with a free-kick cross that went all the way in.

However, Kane had an alternative claim to Spurs' second strike having jumped to head home the Dane's delivery past Jack Butland with what he put down as a slight touch off his shoulder.

Kane swears on daughter's life

In fact, the Three Lions international was so certain that he had gotten the contact necessary for the goal to be his own that he swore on his daughter's life that Eriksen's delivery wasn't the final touch.

According to the BBC, Kane famously remarked: "I swear on my daughter's life that I touched the ball, but there's nothing I can do.

"If they turn it around, they turn it around. If they take my word, they take my word. It is what it is - the most important thing is that we won the game."

Kane gets the goal after an appeal

So, what actually came of the debate? Well, the goal was initially credited to Eriksen, but the Guardian explains that the ruling was altered to Kane when Tottenham lodged an appeal.

The Premier League’s goal accreditation appeals panel changed their decision from Eriksen to Kane in a decision that boosted the Spurs forwards' tally to within four goals' reach of Salah.

An official statement explained: “The goal had originally been awarded to Christian Eriksen but after taking the player’s testimony into account and reviewing the match footage, a three-person panel agreed the final touch on the ball belonged to Kane.”

The footballing world reacts

However, the decision wasn't without controversy and although Salah did go on to win the Golden Boot regardless of the Kane shenanigans, that didn't stop him from voicing his thoughts on Twitter.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Georginio Wijnaldum seconded the bewilderment with tweets of their own, while an entire meme format of Kane laying claim to completely unrelated things was born.

The impact on Kane himself

However, it's worth pointing out that the drama surrounding Kane's simple claim that the ball touched his shoulder had a personal impact on the striker, according to Mauricio Pochettino.

According to The Sun, the then Spurs boss remarked: “Harry is disappointed because he never wanted to create this.

"For you, sometimes, it is a small or simple thing and they become bigger and bigger and you cannot stop it. That’s what happened. He is going to learn a lot from this.”

So, while it might not necessarily be the laughing matter that it's sometimes made out to be by fans, there's no denying that it's still a curious moment in Premier League history almost four years on.