Son celebrates Kane link-up as Tottenham duo hit another milestone

By Sports Desk October 12, 2022

Son Heung-min's link-up with fellow Tottenham star Harry Kane is purely a "pay-off for hard work".

Son scored twice on Wednesday, either side of a Kane penalty, as Spurs ran out 3-2 winners over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.

Antonio Conte's side moved to the Group D summit after coming from behind to defeat the Europa League holders at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Kane set up Son for the equaliser after the hosts fell behind to Daichi Kamada's early strike, meaning the pair have now combined to score on 50 occasions for Spurs across all competitions.

Kane has teed up 24 goals for Son, who has supplied 26 assists for the England captain. Since the start of last season, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, the scorer of a record-setting hat-trick in Liverpool's win over Rangers elsewhere on Wednesday, is the only Premier League player with more strikes in all competitions (39) than the Spurs pair (Kane has netted 36, with Son scoring 29).

The South Korea captain paid tribute to his fearsome partnership with Kane, telling BT Sport: "We just understand each other really well. I know what he likes to do, and he's the same.

"The relationship, it's always hard work and good effort. It's always been a pay-off for hard work. [There will be] many more [combinations] to come, I hope."

Son's second goal was the pick of the bunch as he put Tottenham 3-1 up before the break.

Connecting with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's pinpoint cross, the forward unleashed a thumping volley that would eventually prove decisive after Faride Alidou's late header ensured a nervy finish for Spurs.

"The ball was just really clear to me and there was only one option; to take the volley," Son added. "I hit it really clean, I was very happy.

"The last five minutes were really tough. In the Champions League, you never know what will happen. It was uncomfortable sitting on the bench and watching. The most important thing was the three points."

Meanwhile, head coach Conte said "it would have been a disaster" had Spurs surrendered their lead in the closing stages, with Kane missing a stoppage-time penalty to put them home and dry. The 29-year-old has missed two of his last four penalties in all competitions for Tottenham, having previously scored 21 successive spot-kicks for the club.

"We started in a very difficult way, conceding the first goal," Conte said. "We scored three goals and had big chances. In the end, we are leading our group.

"Until the end, we had to stay focused. It would have been a disaster if we drew a game like this."

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    The win also maintained England captain Harry Kane’s chances of winning silverware in his debut season in Germany, the former Tottenham striker missing out on a Bundesliga title following Bayer Leverkusen’s remarkable campaign.

    Kane had a quiet evening after half a chance in the opening exchanges and it was Arsenal who enjoyed a good spell as they looked to take the lead in the tie.

    Gabriel Martinelli flashed a shot wide before wiggling through a couple of challenges only to come up against the imposing presence of Bayern skipper Manuel Neuer in the hosts’ goal.

    At the other end, David Raya was called into action for the first time as he saved from Jamal Musiala following a speedy Bayern break.

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    Bayern were second best for the majority of a largely passive first 45 minutes for the hosts, but straight after the restart they were on it, hitting the crossbar through a Leon Goretzka header before Raphael Guerreiro’s follow-up deflected against the post.

    Arsenal were slightly rattled and Gabriel Magalhaes passed the ball out of play for a corner following a breakdown in communication with Raya.

    Arsenal survived the resulting set-piece but fell behind soon after, Kimmich flying past a slow-moving Martinelli to power Guerreiro’s cross into the back of the net.

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    Sure, Haaland might not quite have scaled the same heights as last season, but he has still scored 20 goals in 26 league games, scoring a goal every 109 minutes on average.

    However, the Norwegian has actually underperformed his expected goals (xG) of 23.7 – that 3.7 differential is actually the biggest xG underperformance of any player on this list.

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    Cole Palmer (20)

    Palmer has stolen the show this season for Chelsea, and is arguably the Blues’ driving force behind their push for European football.

    Having signed from City last summer, Palmer has made an instant impact despite only playing 27 times – he averages a goal every 103 minutes, which is better than any of the other candidates featured here.

    He scored a perfect hat-trick in the first half of the demolition of Everton, before adding a fourth from the penalty spot after the break – that was Palmer’s ninth successfully converted spot-kick in the league this term.

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    Ollie Watkins (19)

    One goal behind Palmer and Haaland, and someone who will be looking to get ahead when Aston Villa face Bournemouth on Sunday, is England international Watkins.

    A deft chip in Villa’s brilliant 2-0 win over Arsenal last time out brought up Watkins’ 19th top-flight goal of the campaign – he is now the club’s joint-leading scorer in a single season in the Premier League, matching Christian Benteke (2012-13).

     

    What separates Watkins from Palmer and Haaland is his minutes per goal ratio – Watkins has netted every 147 minutes on average, which is 44 minutes worse off than Palmer and 38 than Haaland.

    However, with 10 assists, the former Brentford forward leads the goal contributions charts along with Palmer. Interestingly, however, Watkins’ assists have come from an expected assists (xA) of just 3.6, suggesting he has been the benefactor of some particularly excellent finishing from his Villa team-mates.

    A goal against Bournemouth on Sunday would see Watkins become just the third English player to score 20+ goals and assist 10+ goals in a 38-game season, along with Frank Lampard in 2009-10 (22 goals, 14 assists) and Harry Kane in 2020-21 (23 goals, 14 assists)

    Watkins has proved to be a deadly finisher under Unai Emery, though the trick for opposing defences could be to prevent him getting space in the area to begin with, given that all 19 of his goals have come from inside the box. Obviously, that is easier said than done.

    Mohamed Salah (17)

    Liverpool will be hoping to bounce back from their damaging defeat to Crystal Palace last week when they take on Fulham on Sunday, and key to the Reds’ clinching success in Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour will surely be the form of Salah.

    Since sustaining an injury at the Africa Cup of Nations, Salah has not quite hit top form, but he has still netted 17 goals across 26 league appearances this term, though five of those have been penalties.

     

    With an xGOT of 18.4, Salah can point to some above average goalkeeping as a reason for a small underperformance.

    Creatively, Salah has been excellent, providing nine assists and crafting 60 opportunities, but the Reds will need him at his very best in the run-in.

    Alexander Isak (17)

    Isak was at the double in Newcastle United’s 4-0 thrashing of Tottenham last time out. He has now scored 12 goals in as many Premier League appearances at St James’ Park this season.

    His opener against Spurs saw him become the fourth player to score in six consecutive Premier League home matches for Newcastle, with only Andrew Cole (eight) and Alan Shearer (15) having longer such runs, with Isak now level with Les Ferdinand’s best such run. The only other Swede to have netted as many Premier League goals in a single campaign as Isak has this term is the great Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored 17 times for Manchester United in 2016-17.

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    Dominic Solanke (17)

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    The Chasing Pack

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