Troy Deeney, who took over from the long standing Garth Crooks in the summer to choose a Premier League team of the week for the BBC, has named one Tottenham Hotspur player in his team of the week for gameweek eight. Whilst this player did play well, it is perhaps not the player you would have expected.
Your immediate instinct would be Dejan Kulusevski – but no. Deeney instead went for the skipper, Heung Min-Son. His full team reads as; Emi Martinez, Ashley Young, Joel Veltman, Michael Keane, Josko Gvardiol; Curtis Jones, Mario Lemina, Facundo Buonanotte; Mohamed Salah, Chris Wood, Heung Min-Son.
Unlike the algorithm decided WhoScored team of the week, Deeney’s picks are all subjective. In which case, you feel like Kulusevski can feel a bit aggrieved not to be in the team. As for Destiny Udogie, who made the WhoScored team of the week, it is hard to overly argue against Gvardiol, giving his stunning strike for Manchester City in their win away to Wolves on Sunday.
With a goal and general all round solid display, Yves Bissouma can also perhaps feel aggrieved that Mario Lemina is holding down the midfield instead of him. Pedro Porro also had an excellent performance, but when Ashley Young, who is three years older than Deeney himself, is helping keep Premier League clean sheets at 39, perhaps sometimes you just have to say fair play.
In truth, Son’s first half performance was not too good, with Aaron-Wan Bissaka generally getting the better of him, particularly in 1v1 situations. So much so, that the West Ham United right-back was actually named in the aforementioned WhoScored team of the week.
In the second half he looked much brighter, however, and took his goal superbly well. Whilst the 32-year old is not known for his 1v1 and dribbling ability, his astounding two footedness makes him just as hard to defend in those situations, as there is no weaker foot to show him on.
As a result, Jean-Clair Todibo was stuck in two minds regarding how to stand up to Son, and the captain took advantage, going onto his left foot and striking a powerful shot into the near post, that went through Alphonse Areola in the West Ham goal.
With the goal, Son entered the top 20 all time Premier League goalscorers. He is now on 123, with no other Asian footballer being in the 100 club. The captain continues to make history.