Son Heung-min named to Alan Shearer's team of the week

Alan Shearer's Team of the Week [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Son Heung-min's hat trick against Aston Villa on Saturday hasn't gone unnoticed, with former England captain and top pundit Alan Shearer naming the Tottenham Hotspur among the best 11 for the first match week.

In a lineup shared on the official Premier League Twitter Account, Shearer put Son front and center, leading the attack in his "Alan Shearer's Team of the Week." The weekly series sees the retired striker choose his top players from all Premier League games that week, displaying them in the official Premier League Fantasy Football format.

Son's inclusion isn't a big surprise. The Korean striker hammered home three goals against Aston Villa at Villa Park in Birmingham on Saturday, starting with the opener in only the third minute of the game.

The Korean forward's effort — a rebound from a Harry Kane header that Son quickly slotted into the corner — was the only goal of the first half, but returned after the break with plenty more to offer.

Dejan Kulusevski increased Tottenham's lead to 2-0 in the 50th minute, with Son adding No. 3 in the 66th minute. Both goals were assisted by Kane, with the England captain using his head to knock the ball down in both instances.

Son added goal No. 4 in the 71st minute, converting a pass from Kulusevski in the box to give Spurs a decisive 4-0 lead. The win took Tottenham three points clear of Arsenal in fourth place in the Premier League, putting the club comfortably in contention for a Champions League spot with just over a month left of the 2021-22 season.

Shearer, a Premier League legend and one of FIFA's 100 greatest living footballers, went for an unusual 1-2-5-3 formation this week with Son up front alongside Timo Werner and Mason Mount of Chelsea.

In midfield, Shearer chose Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marcos Alonso of Chelsea — the inclusion of the four Chelsea players followed the club's 6-0 win over Southampton on Saturday — alongside Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall of Leicester City and Enock Mwepu of Brighton and Hove Albion.

The two defense spots went to Son's teammate Cristian Romero and Brighton's Lewis Dunk — Mwepu and Dunk's inclusion comes after the mid-table club beat Arsenal 2-1 on Saturday — with Everton's Jordan Pickford in goal.

Son is a fairly regular pick on the various Premier League teams of the week, but Shearer, who remains the Premier League's all-time top goal scorer, had particularly high praise for the Korean international this week.

"Three shots on target. Three goals. It was a perfect performance in a match where clinical finishing was the difference," Shearer was quoted as saying on the Premier League website.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]