The Citizen (Gauteng)

Coach hails his favourite Spurs Son

BREAK: FRESHENED UP TOTTENHAM’S KOREAN WINGER

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‘Fantastic’ and ‘outstandin­g’ were the accolades from manager Pochettino.

Mauricio Pochettino has urged Son Heung-Min to follow his superb goal against Chelsea with a sustained spell of excellence.

Son’s brilliant solo strike fired Tottenham Hotspur into a threegoal lead in Saturday’s impressive 3-1 win over their London rivals at Wembley.

After Dele Alli and Harry Kane netted for Tottenham, the South Korea winger’s 50th goal for the club ensured Spurs ended Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season.

Chelsea’s defence were unable to cope with Son’s speed and his influentia­l display was welcomed by the Tottenham boss after the Korean’s struggles earlier this term.

Having been at the World Cup with South Korea in the summer, Son returned to internatio­nal duty with his country in August in a bid to earn exemption from military service by winning the Asian Games.

He achieved that feat but the gruelling schedule took its toll on the 26-year-old and he was a shadow of his usual self in the wake of those internatio­nal exertions.

Tottenham’s’ reward for allowing Son to go to the Asian Games was a promise he would not be called up during the most recent internatio­nal break and Pochettino reckons that was a good bit of business.

“You can see on the pitch, Son’s performanc­e was fantastic and you can see he deserved it because the summer for him was very difficult,” he said.

“In the last internatio­nal break he was here, training hard. It is one of the reasons that he is fresh, his physical condition is much better and I think it is going to help him for the rest of the season.”

Son could have already had four goals by the time he finally beat Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabala­ga in the second half.

“It was fantastic, everyone that saw the game was in love with the action,” Pochettino said.

“It was fantastic action, talent. It was a fantastic capacity to make what he made, it was an outstandin­g action for a very good player like him.”

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 ?? Picture: Getty Images ?? LOVELY. Heung-Min Son of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring his team’s third goal during their English Premier League match against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.
Picture: Getty Images LOVELY. Heung-Min Son of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring his team’s third goal during their English Premier League match against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.

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