Son Heung-min still looking for elusive first goal as Spurs take on Leicester

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min reacts during a UEFA Champions League Group D match against Marseille in London on Sept. 7. [EPA/YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min has just one chance left to snap his increasingly uncomfortable goalless streak before the Premier League enters its first international break and the Korean captain is back on a flight to Seoul.

Son, the winner of the 2021-22 Premier League Golden Boot, has now gone eight games across all competitions without a goal this season. If he fails to find the back of the net when Spurs take on Leicester City on Saturday, Son will have to wait until October for another shot to break the dry spell.

It’s difficult to determine exactly what has caused Son’s silence in front of goal. The Athletic statistics department expect Son to score 0.3 goals per 90 minutes played, a number he could very quickly catch up with if just a few shots go the right way in the next few games.

Son has had 17 shots so far this season, the most of any Premier League player without scoring. Inevitably, as long as he keeps hammering away, some of those shots will start to go in.

The issue may be that Son isn’t being given the room he likes to work in. With manager Antonio Conte building a far more attacking team this season — Son, Harry Kane, Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski — opposing clubs have taken to playing deeper in defense, allowing Son little room for the snappy sprints and quick breakaways that often lead to some of his best work.

Unsurprisingly, this drought — which actually isn’t that different from dry spells he experienced in every season except the last one — does seem to have started to effect Son’s performance, leading to him taking less risks, playing less instinctively and occasionally looking shaky on the offensive.

With Conte now having so many options to call on, Son now needs to overcome his own mental block and trust in the process and the goals should start coming. If not, he could find himself relegated to the bench more often than expected as Conte turns to his more productive strikers.

Spurs will take on Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday, or at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning in Korea.

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