Tottenham fans have been given a wonderful Christmas present at Goodison on Sunday afternoon.
A comprehensive 6-2 victory was more than an anniversary present for Mauricio Pochettino’s wife. It’s also been a game in which Spurs star Son Heung-Min hit a milestone for Tottenham.
The South Korea international bagged a brace and laid another one for Harry Kane as Spurs ran riot at Goodison Park. With his two goals, Son reached (and surpassed) a 50 goal involvements marker for Tottenham in the Premier League and we thought a tribute to the tenacious forward was in order.
Smiling Sonny
With two goals and an assist, the South Korean has now contributed to 51 Tottenham goals in the Premier League. Such a record is more than enough reason for the 26-year-old Son Heung-Min to be given credit and special mention as one of the most underrated footballers in the English top flight.
Sitting in the shadows of Tottenham’s more prominent stars such as Harry Kane, Delle Ali and Christian Eriksen, largely undeservedly, Son Heung-Min has every right to be called their equal.
He is often not given the credit he rightfully deserves but the 2018/19 season thus far seems to be the one South Korean fully stamps his authority. He’s been doing it for a while now, with a wide – and largely infectious – smile upon his face, but it’s fair to say Son wasn’t the instant hit in English football.
Having arrived in London as the most expensive Asian player in history, Son had to work hard to make his ground in English top flight. Such were his initial struggles that he even openly asked Mauricio Pochettino to let him leave after not being regularly involved in his first season with Spurs.
Tenacious Talent
Poch knew what he paid £22 million for, however. Son joined Tottenham off of a remarkable spell with Bayern Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Two years in Germany saw him become one of the fan favourites, largely due to his tenacious spirit and searing pace.
Son Heung-Min does not seem to be getting tired – ever – and will at times resemble a video game character. It was exactly Sonic the Hedgehog that popped up to Arsenal social media team’s mind earlier in November, as Tottenham beat Chelsea 3-1.
Son concluded the scoring for hosts with an impressive run which inspired a Super SONic video to illustrate just how effortlessly the South Korean sliced through Chelsea’s defence to put it in the back of the net.
🎮Super SONic! 💫#COYS pic.twitter.com/OayAdKaxO1
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 28, 2018
Son never runs out of battery which – in combination with his impressive positional awareness, two-footed technical ability and clinical finishing – makes him an all-round asset Tottenham rely on more than they could care to admit.
In his 112 appearances for Spurs, Son managed to score 35 goals and also registered 16 assists which are the numbers more than enough to underline his importance in Tottenham’s play.
Son’s Emerging Presence
The South Korean currently has 5 Premier League goals on his tally and 8 in total across all competitions this season. Having gone through a quiet couple of months at the beginning of the campaign, Son pushed it up a notch by scoring the entirety of his goals in just 13 appearances.
Son is averaging 2.2 shots per game and boasts an 83.2 pass success percentage in the Premier League this season, as per WhoScored. As a highly versatile forward who can fit in all positions across the midfield line as well, the South Korean is emerging as one of Poch’s mainstays at Spurs.
His recent performances – most notably against Chelsea, Leicester and Everton – proved Son is becoming a handful to contain and an eye-catcher.
His imperial talent and ability – always presented with a boy’s smile across his face – has unfortunately been left unrewarded. With Tottenham still striving to properly join the hunt for silverware, it comes as a pity even that Son can’t be given official recognition for his Tottenham contribution – apart from recurrent Man of the Match awards and international accolades.
See you, Sonny!
The three-time Best Footballer in Asia is now set to leave Tottenham – for a little while of course – as he prepares to join his national team at the Asian Cup in January.
Son inspired his nation to the Asian Games title earlier this year and will be taking an aim at another piece of silverware in the United Arab Emirates from 5th January to 1st February.
The forward leaves Tottenham after the Manchester United clash on 13th January and is set to miss games against Fulham, Watford and the League Cup clash versus Chelsea. Should South Korea go all the way to fight for the trophy – for which they are given 4/1 betting odds to lift – Son will most likely miss the Newcastle clash on 2nd February.
Tottenham will no doubt miss their star player but should have plenty about them to properly replace Sonny during winter.
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