Son Heung-min becomes first Asian top-10 scorer in EPL

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min became the first Asian player to finish the season as a top-10 goal scorer in the English Premier League (EPL).

Son only played six minutes as a second-half substitute and failed to score a goal in Tottenham’s season finale against Leicester City at Wembley Stadium in London, where the hosts claimed a 5-4 win and sealed third place in the EPL on Sunday.

With a win, Hotspur concluded the Premier League season third in the standing with 23 wins, eight draws and seven losses.

The 25-year-old Korean, however, ended the EPL campaign with 12 goals, sharing 10th place on the scoring list with Riyad Mahrez of Leicester, Eden Hazard of Chelsea and Glenn Murray of Brighton. This is the first time in the EPL history that an Asian footballer finished the season in the top 10 in scoring.

Last season, Son scored 14 goals, the single-season scoring record by an Asian player in the EPL, but only ranked 13th on the list. Including the goals from UEFA Champions League and English Football Association Cup, Son scored 21 goals.

Son, who joined the Spurs in August 2015, had 18 goals in total this season. He also bagged four goals at the UEFA Champions League and two more at the English Football Association Cup.

Son’s scoring tally was three goals down from last season, but he had more assists to mark yet another productive season. Son provided 11 assists total for the 2017-18 season, four more than the previous season.

Son, who also had stints with Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg in Germany, is widely regarded as the first pick for Korea’s roster for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He has 20 goals in 63 matches for Korea.

Yonhap