Spurs’ Son is Sonsational
SON Heung-Min struck a beautiful brace last weekend to help Tottenham beat Leicester City 3-1. The win keeps Spurs in with a strong chance of finishing in the top four this season.
By scoring his brace, the South Korean reached a career best league season goals tally of 19, surpassing the 17 that he scored last season. Son is a contender for the league’s Golden Boot award – he is three short of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (22) who tops the charts.
In terms of goals from open play, Son actually has the most this season as five of Salah’s goals have come from set pieces.
Son has to be in contention for the Premier League’s Player of the Season award. He is the biggest reason that Spurs are in contention for a top four finish, especially considering that Harry Kane has largely had an underwhelming season.
There is a good argument to be made that Son is actually now the best pure finisher in the Premier League. Salah does after all have more opportunities to score and is surrounded by more gifted teammates as compared to Son.
Son has been one of the most lethal finishers in Europe over the past decade. He has elite ball-striking ability, positional sense and some critics of Spurs’ lack of success will say that he is a victim of his own club.
The Spurs team of this season have proven that they can after all function effectively without Kane who pushed for a move away during the last off-season. It is Son that they will greatly stutter without.
On paper, Son is a player that could fit into the starting XI of any team in world football. He would be a joy to have for any manager who has a system that relies on transitional threats.
Son is also one of the most consistent players in the Premier League. Since joining the Lilywhites in 2015, he has only failed to beat the 10-goal barrier on one occasion which was in his first season. His debut season was also more or less one of integration and he was not really expected to hit the ground running immediately.
On another note, a manager who also has to be in the running for the manager of the season award is Newcastle’s Eddie Howe.
When the 44-year-old was appointed to lead the Magpies last November, they looked destined for relegation. Even though they lost to Liverpool last weekend, Newcastle are tenth. They are a completely different team since Howe took charge.
Newcastle are nine points adrift of the top seven which would gain them qualification to one of the European competitions. They probably won’t be playing in Europe next season but European qualification is certainly a target that they can set themselves for the next campaign.