Son Heung-min returns to ‘Son spot’ for déjà vu goal against Leicester

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min takes a shot from just to the right of the D during a game against Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min takes a shot from just to the right of the D during a game against Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London in May. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
Son Heung-min’s emphatic hat-trick against Leicester City on Saturday saw the Korean forward return to one of his favorite shots: A long curling left-footer from just to the right of the D into the top-left corner of the goal. And it’s a trick that Leicester have fallen for before.
 
Son snapped a six-game drought on Saturday with a 13-minute hat-trick after coming on off the bench for Spurs on Saturday, making him the first player in Tottenham history to score three goals as a substitute. He added numbers four, five and six to Spurs’ 6-2 win over Leicester.
 
It was Son’s second goal — Tottenham’s fifth — that saw him back in familiar territory, just to the right of the D on the edge of the box. Picking up a pass from Kane in the 84th minute, Son took a single touch to collect himself and then sent a curling left-footed effort past six defenders and into the back of the net.
 
For Leicester fans, that goal likely came with a depressing sense of déjà vu.
 

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min takes a shot from just to the right of the D during a game against Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min takes a shot from just to the right of the D during a game against Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London in May. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
Spurs last faced Leicester at the tail end of the 2021-22 season, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May. During that game, Son also scored an incredible curling effort from the same spot on the edge of the box — a spot that increasingly looks like it should be known as the “Son spot” — beating the goalkeeper and finding the top right corner.
 
Son scored a brace in the 3-1 win, with Harry Kane picking up the other goal from a Son assist. He went one better on Saturday, with Kane, Eric Dier and Rodrigo Bentancur rounding off the scoring for Spurs.

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