Son silences critics, pulling off a brace against West Ham

Hotspur’s South Korean winger Son Heung-min, who had been criticized for his lack of decisiveness over the past two games, celebrated his goals with a big smile with Kane and other colleagues. Son-Kane duo, who have already set a new EPL record for most combined goals in a single season, rewrote their records, adding two more goals to it. “We played the game quite well from the beginning, in the first half in particular,” Son said in an interview after the game, “I feel very happy that we could earn three points before the break.”

“Son has proved himself valuable in Tottenham,” said Manager Antonio Conte about Son Heung-min. “An important player is good at managing those circumstances and recovering confidence.” David Moyes, the manager of West Ham, also praised Son, saying, “They are absolute world-class players, and we didn’t quite get it right. The level of the Tottenham front was unbelievably at such a high level.”

Having found his 12th and 13th goals in the game, Son is ranked in the 2nd on the front of EPL top scorers, following Mohammed Salah (20 goals). In fact, the two goals he netted this time were his 199th and 200th career goals (170 club goals and 30 A-match goals). In 2010, Son made his debut in the European football, scoring 20 goals in Hamburg and 29 in Leverkusen. Since he started to wear the Hotspur jersey in 2015-2016 season, Son has found a total 121 goals in 316 appearances in EPL, and 30 goals as the national team, a record in South Korea.With 16-3-10, Tottenham have jumped to 5th, increasing the probability to advance to the UEFA Champions League (UCL).

Currently ranked at fourth, Arsenal have yet to play one more game, but the margin of points has been shaved to three. EPL grants four qualification slots for the Champions League. Football.London, a British football website, gave Son a nine, with BBC rating him at 8.57.


hun@donga.com