Son on target as Spurs stun Man City
If this was a first taste of life without Harry Kane for Tottenham, maybe that prospect isn’t so terrifying after all.
At least not while Son Heung-min is still at the club.
Son netted a second-half winner Sunday as Tottenham opened the Premier League season with an impressive 1-0 home victory over defending champion Manchester City — the team that has spent the summer trying to buy its talisman striker.
New Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo left Kane out of his team altogether amid continued speculation about a pending move to City, but still ended up with a statement victory on his debut.
Son finished off a quick counterattack in the 55th minute and Tottenham effectively neutralised City’s many attacking threats in front of a packed home stadium of about 58,000 fans.
“I think this means a lot for us, for the start of the season,” Son said. “First game, with the fans finally, it’s just an incredible performance.”
Kane’s absence was the big pregame talking point, although
Nuno said the decision was made solely because the England striker only returned to full training on Friday after his holiday.
Based on this performance, City might need Kane more than Spurs do — especially after letting Sergio Aguero leave on a free transfer this summer.
This was the final game of a crowd-pleasing opening Premier League weekend and City were the only big title contenders that failed to start with a win. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all opened with big victories on Saturday.
City dominated possession but struggled to break down a disciplined Tottenham side, which was content to sit back and wait for opportunities to counter.
“You see the stats, the intention to create chances, to create much more,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “Unfortunately we were not clinical enough.”
Son had already threatened on a couple of counter-attacks by the time he put Spurs ahead. The South Korea international collected the ball down the right flank, drove at defender Nathan Ake and then cut inside to bend a low shot inside the far post.
Guardiola brought Kevin De Bruyne off the bench in search of an equaliser and the Belgian forced a save from Lloris with a dipping shot from distance in the 84th.
HAMMERS FIGHT BACK
In yesterday’s early game, West Ham twice came from a goal down to beat Newcastle 4- 2 in an entertaining encounter at St James’ Park.
Callum Wilson put Newcastle ahead in just the fifth minute and the game continued at a furious pace until the final whistle, with West Ham scoring three unanswered goals in 14 secondhalf minutes to get the win.
Aaron Cresswell scored the visitors’ first equaliser in the 18th minute but Newcastle retook the lead five minutes before the end of an entertaining first-half as Jacob Murphy headed home a cross from Matt Ritchie.
West Ham hit back again eight minutes after half-time, with Said Benrahma heading in at the back post following a cross from Michail Antonio.