Son strikes late to edge Spurs past Villa in five-goal thriller

JOSE Mourinho’s men moved up to fifth in the Premier League thanks to Son Heung-min’s stoppage time winner to beat Aston Villa 3-2 yesterday.

Tottenham had to bounce back from a nightmare start at Villa Park when Toby Alderweireld turned Anwar El Ghazi’s deflected cross into his own net after just nine minutes.

But the Belgian quickly made amends at the other end by smashing a loose ball from a corner high past the helpless Pepe Reina to equalise.

Villa could have been two in front before Tottenham levelled as only a goal-line block from Ben Davies denied Douglas Luiz.

However, Dean Smith’s side find themselves in a relegation battle as they have now conceded more goals than any other team in the league.

“They have a front four that can hurt anyone, that’s why we had to get forward and defend on the front foot,” said Smith, with Villa still just one point above the bottom three.

“On the whole I thought we dealt with them really well but we’re disappointed with the goals we conceded.”

A rash challenge by Bjorn Engels on Steven Bergwijn handed the visitors the chance to go in front just before the break, albeit it took a VAR review to award a penalty.

Son’s spot-kick was saved by Reina, but the South Korean followed up to prod home and become the first Asian player to score 50 Premier League goals.

Engels also made amends as an attacking force as he rose highest to head home Jack Grealish’s corner eight minutes into the second half, but Mourinho was furious at Alderweireld’s defending.

“I’d say he’s scored three goals: the own goal, his goal and then when he loses the duel with Engels,” added the Portuguese.

Tottenham took the game to the hosts in the final quarter, but struggled to find a way past the inspired Reina.

The on-loan AC Milan goalkeeper saved three efforts from Son and denied Dele Alli when one-on-one.

However, Son had the final say by composing himself to slot just beyond Reina’s reach with virtually the last action of the game and send Spurs closer to a fifth straight season of Champions League football. — SuperSport