Three highlights from Tottenham Hotspur 2020-2021 season
By Gary Pearson
3. Son Heung-Min reached new career milestone
Sonny scored 17 top flight goals, his most since arriving in the Premier League in 2015-2016. Tottenham’s adored winger came out of the gates like a gangbuster, scoring four against Southampton in the second match of the season.
He had eight goals in the first six matches, including a brace in Tottenham’s famous 6-1 at Old Trafford.
While Sonny’s pace slowed considerably in the second half the campaign — which severely hampered Tottenham’s overall progress — he can look back on the season with pride, a sense of profound individual accomplishment.
He also appeared in all but one of Tottenham’s Premier League encounters, doing his best ironman impression. Fatigue, coinciding with a drain in confidence, took a toll on Son toward the tail end of the campaign, but take nothing away from Sonny’s invaluable contribution.
The South Korean’s 17 goals made up 25 percent of Tottenham’s overall scoring. He also chipped in with 10 assists, meaning Sonny was directly involved in 40 percent of Tottenham’s 68 goals. Based on his comparatively low shots-per-90 minutes, Sonny was only expected to score 11 goals. Son, with 1.95 shots per game, was fifth on the team in that category, behind Kane, Gareth Bale, Carlos Vinicius and Erik Lamela.
Spurs won nine of 13 matches when Sonny scored, an impressive record reinforcing his unquestionable value to the side. He now has 70 goals in 197 Tottenham appearances.