Koreans in Europe: Hwang Hee-chan gets No. 8 as Wolves beat Burnley

Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Hwang Hee-chan celebrates after scoring during a Premier League match against Burnley at the Molineux in Wolverhampton, England on Tuesday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Hwang Hee-chan scored his eighth league goal of the season to lead Wolverhampton Wanderers to a 1-0 win over Burnley on Tuesday, slotting in the winner in the 42nd minute on a quiet night at the Molineux in Wolverhampton, England.

Hwang’s impressive form continued against Burnley, the sole goal coming from a tidy finish that comfortably inched past goalkeeper James Trafford. Only Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min — all former Golden Boot winners — can claim more goals than Hwang this season, a remarkable turnaround considering this time last year he was still struggling with a months-long slump.

“His numbers are really impressive,” Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said Tuesday. “Will he continue to score at this rate for the rest of the season? It would be an incredible effort to do so. When the ball falls to Channy in the penalty area, I have a really good feeling that the ball is going to end in the back of the net. It is no fluke.”

Hwang’s form this season has seen him score with impressive regularity — managing at least one goal in every two games of the campaign so far, with the sole exception of the first two games of November, when he opted for an assist instead.

Hwang’s success this season is as much a team effort as a solo tour de force. He has always been a goal scorer, honing those skills back at Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, but was underserved by Nuno Espirito Santo and especially Bruno Lage, who regularly benched Hwang in favor of any of the 10 Portuguese players he packed into the squad.

Julien Lopetegui changed things, pulling Hwang back into the center of the squad and snapping him out of his slump, but it’s O’Neil who has really given him the service to produce at the front of Wolves’ offense.

According to analysis from the Athletic at the end of last month, it took Hwang 774 minutes to reach 18 shots this season, the same number he managed in the 1,130 minutes he played for the whole of last season. That shows not only more time on the pitch — he’s already played 1,044 minutes this season — but more time on the ball as well.

“He’s bought in fully to what we’re trying to do,” O’Neil said on Tuesday. “He arrives in good areas time and time again, keeps going and eight goals is a really impressive return.”

Hwang won’t have to wait long for a chance to make it nine. Wolves will be back in action in the Premier League on Saturday as they take on Nottingham Forest at home.

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