[OSEN=우충원 기자] ‘Living Legend’ Son Heung-min (Tottenham) challenges a new record. The competitor is the ‘ugly duckling’ Richarlison (Tottenham).
Son Heung-min started as a starter in the 2023-2024 Premier League round 20 home game against Bournemouth that ended at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England on the 1st (Korean time) and played full time, scoring in the 26th minute of the second half when the team was ahead 1-0. It started working.
It was Son Heung-min’s 12th goal in the regular league, and the offensive point for 3 consecutive games (2 goals-1 assist).
After Richarlison’s additional goal in the 35th minute of the second half, Tottenham gave up a chasing goal to Bournemouth’s Alex Scott in the 39th minute of the second half, but prevented additional goals from being conceded and won 3-1.
With the win on this day, Tottenham maintained 5th place with 39 points and put strong pressure on the leader.
With the additional goal against Bournemouth, Son Heung-min achieved his 12th league goal and tied for second place in Premier League scoring along with Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) and Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth). He ignited the race for top scorer by narrowing the gap to leading scorer Erling Holland (Manchester City, 14 goals) by two goals.
After finishing the game against Bournemouth, Son Heung-min changed to the Korean national soccer team uniform instead of the Tottenham uniform and joined the Korean national soccer team that is training in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to win the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup for the first time in 64 years. Is expected.
After the game, Sofa Score gave Son Heung-min a rating of 8.1, second on the team after Lo Celso (8.3 rating).
WhoScored.com also gave Son Heung-min (8.2 points) the second highest rating in the team, following Lo Celso (8.3 points).
After the game, Son Heung-min, who scored that day, received a lot of praise. Many fans chose Son Heung-min as the most decorated player against Bournemouth and presented him with his 8th MOTM (Man of the Match) award of the season.
In the MOTM ballot, which is decided by fan voting, Son Heung-min was selected as the best player of the game with an overwhelming vote rate of 74.6% out of a total of 24,998 votes. He was far ahead of Lo Celso (13.6%), who recorded two assists, including Son Heung-min’s goal. It was the 8th award of the season since the Everton match on the 24th of last month.
Son Heung-min, who led the team to victory by scoring in the final game of 2023, did not forget to send New Year’s greetings to the fans who supported him after the game.
On the 1st, Son Heung-min sent a New Year’s greeting through his social media account, saying, “The last game of 2023 ended happily thanks to you all. In Korea, it is 2024 and in England, it is still 2023. Thank you for making 2023 a special and happy year.” reported.
Attention was paid to whether Son Heung-min could receive the Premier League Player of the Month award for December. Including the match against Bournemouth, Son Heung-min appeared in 7 games in December, scoring 4 goals and 4 assists.
Starting with 1 goal and 1 assist in the 14th round away game against Manchester City, which ended in a 3-3 draw, Son Heung-min recorded 1 goal and 2 assists in the 16th round match against Newcastle United, leading the team to a 4-1 win. Afterwards, he scored 2 goals and 1 assist in 3 games in the 18th and 20th rounds, recording a whopping 8 attack points in the month of December.
In particular, the fact that no player has posted more attack points than Son Heung-min over the past month makes Son Heung-min a strong candidate for December Player of the Month.
If Son Heung-min receives the PL Player of the Month award in December, another piece of history will be written. Son Heung-min received the PL Player of the Month award for the first time in September of the 2016-2017 season.
He won the award for the second time in April of the same season. He received the award for the third time in October of the 2020-2021 season and became the player of the month for the fourth time in September this season.
Four-time winners include Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes, Jamie Vardy, Bruno Fernandes, and Marcus Rashford.
If Son Heung-min wins the award for the fifth time, he will stand shoulder to shoulder with Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, and Mohamed Salah.
Meanwhile, the players who have won the PL Player of the Month award the most are Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane (7 times), while Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Gerrard are tied for 3rd place with 6 times. / 10bird@osen.co.kr
2024-01-01 08:54:00
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