Son Heung-Min making history with each milestone at Tottenham

Son Heung-Min, with Tottenham’s second goal yesterday at Villa Park, became the first Asian player to score 50 Premier League goals. 

The accolades for Spurs’ favourite Son are mounting like snow in an alpine ski village. The club’s top performer this season hasn’t had everything his own way, but Son’s perseverance is irrepressible.

The penalty sequence perfectly summed up the South Korean’s season. An unorthodox, awkward run up was the precursor for his saved penalty, but Son, mirroring perfectly his spirit and persistence, pounced on the rebound to poke home his 50th top flight goal, putting him atop of a list of elite Asian goal scorers. Son proved once again that it’s not about your failures but how you rebound and respond to them.

Jose Mourinho hilariously hijacked Son’s post-match interview, poking fun at the amount of chances the South Korean missed in the match. While it’s true that Son, had he been more clinical, would have bagged three or four, the fact that he grabbed a brace after spurning so many showcased just how threatening he was.

Tottenham’s joint-fifth all-time goalscorer

Son also became Tottenham’s join-fifth all-time goalscorer, levelling Christian Eriksen’s total with yesterday’s late winner. He’s way behind the top four, but with Son anything is possible.

If the aforementioned milestones aren’t enough to admire, feast your eyes on Son’s last-gasp winner, scored at the 93:34 mark of yesterday’s tilt. It’s Tottenham’s latest winning goal in over 10 years, since Aaron Lennon netted in 2009 against Birmingham at 94 minutes and 24 seconds.

At first glance you might think it’s just another arbitrary stat. However, scoring a winning goal that late in a must-win match further reinforces Son’s importance to the Lilywhites. Easily the club’s most valuable player in Harry Kane’s absence, Son is indelibly etching his name in Tottenham folklore.

He is by all intents and purposes Tottenham’s leader, their unofficial captain. Toby Alderweireld might argue with that assertion, but nobody in north London is more indispensable than our favourite South Korean son.