Son ends dry spell with goal, assist in win over Swansea

Son Heung-min

Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur scored a brilliant goal to end his two-month goal drought. All in all, the Korean attacker netted a goal and dished out an assist to help his team breeze past Swansea City 5-0 during the English Premier League match on Saturday.

During their EPL campaign on Saturday at White Hart Lane, the Spurs’ home turf in London, Tottenham took the lead over Swansea in the first half when Harry Kane capitalized on a spot kick chance in the 38th minute.

With the match fast approaching the half, Son, who had been knocking on Swansea’s goal throughout the first 45 minutes of the game, went and doubled the lead in injury time.

When Christian Eriksen’s shot was deflected off a Swansea defender, Son drilled an acrobatic scissor volley while in the air with his right foot, beating Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to score his fifth EPL goal of the season.

Son’s contribution to his team’s victory, however, didn’t end there.

Three minutes after the kick-off of the second half, Son received a through pass from Dele Alli on a breakaway and penetrated the Swansea box without seeing much challenge.

Just inside the key, Son stopped the ball and laid it out to the center of the box, which created a perfect chance for Kane, who was rushing in from the midfield, to take a shot. The English striker sunk it past Fabianski, marking his second goal of the day as well as his full return from the ankle injury which had sidelined him during the earlier part of the season.

Eriksen also netted two goals in Saturday’s game, one in the 70th minute and another one just before the end of the match during stoppage time, for Spurs to claim a flawless win.

In all, the Spurs dominated Swansea in almost every aspect of the game, out shooting them 28 to one while dominating in possession at 60%.

Son, who was substituted out of the game later in the second half, received an 8.2 rating from WhoScored.com, an English football statistics website, behind Eriksen, Kane and defender Kyle Walker who received 10, 9.3 and 8.4 each.

“I am happy for the three points,” said Mauricio Pochettino, the skipper of Spurs, during the post-match interview. “We needed it after Monaco and Chelsea.”

“I’ve been trying my best to not think about [scoring goals] too much,” Son said, referring to the past two months. “But it still did bother me.”

Ki Sung-yueng, who’s seen consistent playing time since Swansea underwent a managerial change, was absent from Saturday’s match as he is currently recovering from an injury.

Son’s performance on Saturday also put his poor form over the past two months behind him.

Son, who was selected as the EPL Player of the Month for September after tallying four goals and an assist, cooled off just after the first month of the season, along with the team’s performance. In October, Spurs captured only one win while tying four and losing one. They were knocked out of the Champions League after a 2-1 loss to Monaco in November.

BY CHOI HYUNG-JO [choi.hyungjo@joongang.co.kr]