Son and Kane back in the groove
Tottenham’s deadly duo down Leicester to keep their top-four hopes alive
ON DAYS like these, when Son Heung-min and Harry Kane find their groove, it is hard to imagine goals might ever be scarce at Tottenham. Hard to believe they failed to register a shot on target for the previous two games or that there is work to do if they are to clinch a return to the Champions League.
Kane opened the scoring after six weeks without a goal in a Spurs shirt and Son added two more in the second half, saving the best until last, a delicious shot curled perfectly with his left foot around the diving goalkeeper and into the top corner from outside the penalty box.
Antonio Conte had already warned Son he was about to come off when he produced this moment of magic and the Korean received a standing ovation when his number went up and he was replaced by Steven Bergwijn. There was also a cuddle and a friendly word from the boss.
‘Great player, fantastic player,’ beamed Conte. ‘I gave him a big hug after an amazing goal because I wanted to ask which is his favourite foot, and because about three minutes before the goal, I spoke to him and said in five or six minutes I have to make a change.
‘I said, “I wanted to make a change and you decided to score this amazing goal” but what is important is that at the end of the season we celebrate a big achievement as a team. Otherwise it remains only a personal success to score these types of goals.’
Next up for Tottenham is Liverpool on Saturday, followed by a derby against Arsenal, and they are unlikely to find either of them quite as accommodating as Leicester, who made eight changes to the team who started the first leg of the Europa Conference League semi-final against Roma with Thursday’s return in mind.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was absent with a tight calf and James Maddison with a hip problem. There was no sign of Jonny Evans, Harvey Barnes remained on the bench and by the time Jamie Vardy and Youri Tielemans were unleashed, Spurs were stretching into an unassailable lead and Brendan Rodgers was fuming once again about his team’s defensive frailties.
The visitors made a positive enough start. Hugo Lloris pushed a low drive from Patson Daka on to a post and Ayoze Perez was convinced his team should have had a penalty early in the game, when Son seemed to nudge the ball aside with an elbow. Referee Jon Moss was not interested in the claims. Nor were his video assistants.
Kasper Schmeichel’s goal came under no threat for 20 minutes until a shot by Ben Davies was deflected over and from the corner came the opening goal.
Son whipped the ball in and Kane escaped Daniel Amartey to head past Schmeichel at the near post. There is no team guaranteed to help Kane back to form quite like Leicester. This was his 17th goal in 14 Premier League appearances against them.
Again, Leicester were left cursing their vulnerability from set-pieces. It has haunted them all season and Rodgers said: ‘It was so disappointing. Something we will have to look at in the summer through personnel. The mentality to head the ball is missing.’
Kane almost pinched a second, pouncing on a mis-hit pass by Nampalys Mendy, before Son made it 2-0, a goal on the hour to spark a furious protest from Leicester players, complaining about a robust sliding challenge by Cristian Romero on Caglar Soyuncu. Romero won one tackle and the ball spilled loose between him and Soyuncu. Leicester’s Turkish centre half seemed favourite but the sight of the Spurs defender charging his way in full flow caused him to hesitate.
Romero came out of the slide with the ball in his possession, shifted it on to substitute Dejan Kulusevski, who threaded a pass into the feet of Son, and he beat Schmeichel on the turn.
‘I’ve no problem with the tackle,’ said Rodgers, who was less happy with Soyuncu. ‘I’ve a problem with us not winning it. Strong, aggressive, that’s what you want from your centre half. That’s a really poor second goal. We can’t lose that challenge.’ Son has extended his Premier League tally to 19 for this season. Only Liverpool’s Mo Salah, with 22, has more.
‘It’s not important for me,’ said Son, when asked about chasing down Salah. ‘The Golden Boot is a dream but the team is most important. We want to finish in the Champions League. I want to play in it.’
Leicester produced a late flourish. Vardy glanced a header wide and Kelechi Iheanacho pulled a goal back in stoppage time, a drive from 25 yards that beat Lloris low to his left. They have other targets and go to Rome with some players rested.
‘It’s the nature of our season,’ said Rodgers. ‘It’s been riddled with injuries and we cannot afford to risk players playing three times in a week. Our schedule has been so heavy and we could go into extra time on Thursday.’ TOTTENHAM (3-4-3): Lloris 6; Romero 8, Dier 7, Davies 6; Royal 6, Bentancur 7 (Winks 81min), Hojbjerg 7, Sessegnon 6; Moura 6 (Kulusevski 55, 7), Kane 7.5, SON 8.5 (Bergwijn 82). Scorers: Kane 22, Son 60, 79. Booked: Davies, Bentancur. Manager: Antonio Conte 7. LEICESTER CITY (3-5-2): Schmeichel 6; Castagne 6, Amartey 6, Soyuncu 5; Albrighton 6, Soumare 5.5 (Brunt 67, 6), Mendy 5, Perez 6 (Tielemans 76), Thomas 5.5; Iheanacho 6, Daka 5 (Vardy 67, 6). Scorer: Iheanacho 90+1. Booked: Albrighton, Amartey, Thomas. Manager: Brendan Rodgers 6. Referee: Jon Moss 5.5. Attendance: 59,482.