Koreans in Europe: Son Heung-min scores as Spurs edge past Everton

Tottenham's Son Heung-min controls the ball during a Premier League match against Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur edged past a dogged Everton at home on Saturday, holding on after early goals from Richarlison and Son Heung-min for a very merry 2-1 Christmas win in N17.

Tottenham struck early to knock Everton on the back foot. Richarlison put the home side up nine minutes into the first half, with Son making it two at the 18-minute mark.

That early effort was enough to silence the visitors at a packed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London, a shock-and-awe offensive that left Everton unable to convert throughout the half despite creating more chances against a fairly unproductive Spurs.

Everton continued to look like contenders in the second half despite the two-goal deficit, raining attempts on the goal before Andre Gomes finally made it 2-1 in the 82nd minute.

The visitors kept Spurs quiet through six minutes of injury time for a 2-1 Tottenham win that offered little in the way of surprise or suspense, but ensured there was still plenty of Christmas cheer on the streets of north London.

“Obviously the result is very pleasing against a very difficult opponent today in Everton, who have been the form team of the competition for the past few weeks,” Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou said after the game. “You can see why today, they worked hard and we kind of got on top of them in the first half, apart from our goals our football was good.

“We looked really threatening and then after we got 2-0 ahead we just eased back a little bit and I thought that allowed them to get back into the game.”

Saturday’s goal was Son’s 11th of the season, pushing him up to tie for second on the Premier League top scorer table as of press time, alongside Mo Salah of Liverpool, Jarrod Bowen of West Ham and Dominic Solanke of Bournemouth.

Countryman Hwang Hee-chan of Wolves is also in the top 10, sitting at seventh on the table with eight goals.

Spurs will now get a few days off for Christmas before taking on Brighton on Dec. 28. Hwang and Wolves will be in action Sunday with the pre-Christmas game against Chelsea.

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