London: Heung-Min Son returned to form emphatically, ending his goal drought with a hat-trick in a space of 13 scintillating minutes as Leicester were humiliated by Tottenham Hotspur in a 6-2 defeat. After ending last season as joint top scorer in the Premier league, Son had not been able to get on the score sheet and was made a substitute for this match.
But having been brought on, in the 58th minute of the second-half, he displayed his superb ability. The loss leaves Leicester languishing at the bottom of the league table after six consecutive defeats and puts the manager’s position distinctly at risk as he clearly realises.
Asked if he expected the club’s owners to continue with him as manager, he said: “I don’t know, to be honest. Whatever their decision is, I’ll always respect it. I feel in the team tonight, you watched them play in the first half, you can see the confidence in the team, the creativity in the team. It’s just cutting out the mistakes.
“There’s no doubt first seven games, we’ve had a tough start. Tottenham away, Arsenal away, Chelsea away and Manchester United at home.” He said the international break “has probably come at a good time to reset everything and break the cycle of the summer as well.”
He added: “The owners will do what it is that they feel they need to do. Losing the last six games doesn’t make great reading. I’ve every confidence that the team can push on and if they play like they did for large parts of this game we’ll climb higher in table.”
Tottenham were a goal down as early as the sixth minute when Leicester converted a retaken penalty after the first attempt was saved but VAR decided the goalkeeper had moved early. Two minutes later Spurs equalised from Harry Kane’s header following a corner. Spurs then took the lead in the 21st minute following another corner with Eric Dyer leaping high to head the ball in.
Leicester drew level just four minutes before half-time when Tim Castagne did well on the right moving forward and crossing to James Maddison to firmly slot his shot home. The parity didn’t last long as two minutes after the break Tottenham scored. Wilfried Ndidi dawdled on the pass from Jonny Evans and was disposed by Rodrigo Bentancur who then put his side in front again.
Then came the superb hat-trick displayed by Son. In the 73rd minute he sprinted ahead to collect the ball and with his right foot found the top corner of Leicester’s goal with a 22-yard curling shot.
Ten minutes later after Cristian Romero inexplicably missed an open goal, Son received a pass from Kane and moved the ball to his left foot to unleash a powerful shot into the top left corner. Finally, two minutes later, Son lifted the ball over the goalkeeper from a pass from Pierre Emile Hojberg but an off-side flag went up. However, a check by VAR showed a clear goal.
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