Son's treble caps big win over Leicester - on-the-whistle report

Heung-Min Son stepped off the bench to fire a 13-minute hat-trick and cap another goal-filled Premier League win against Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening.

Yet to score this season before this encounter and among the substitutes for the first time this campaign, the South Korean international forward exploded off the mark in some style, curling home two exquisite efforts before tucking home his third amid glorious celebrations among our fans. It came seven years to the day since the front man's first goal for us against Qarabag in the Europa League.

It was 3-2 in our favour when Son stepped onto the pitch after Youri Tielemans had given the visitors an early lead with a twice-taken penalty, before goals from Harry Kane and Eric Dier put us in front, only for James Maddison to level it up at the break. Rodrigo Bentancur then scored his first Spurs goal in 26 appearances for 3-2, before Son’s superb cameo.

There was a poignant backdrop to the events as both clubs and their respective sets of fans paid tribute to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II following her sad passing last week.

The Foxes were ahead on five minutes after Davinson Sanchez tripped James Justin right on the edge of the area. Hugo Lloris saved Tielemans first spot-kick but was adjudged to have moved off his line too early and so a retake was enforced by referee Simon Hooper, Tielemans this time making no mistake. But three minutes later we were level, Dejan Kulusevski’s back-post cross headed home by Kane, his 20th goal against the Foxes. And in the 21st minute it was 2-1, Ivan Perisic whipping in a corner to the near post where Dier glanced home a header. Then, Sanchez climbed high to head the ball into the net five minutes later, but the referee decided the Colombian international had fouled goalkeeper Ward in the process and disallowed the goal.

Leicester levelled it up four minutes before the break when Timothy Castagne cut a cross back and James Maddison scooped a half-volley up and over Lloris into the top corner. Ward then made a stunning save to tip Sanchez’s header onto the crossbar before Lloris saved with his legs to deny Maddison his second from close range as a crazy half came to an end.

Not that the second period started any differently! Just two minutes in, Bentancur dispossessed Wilfred Ndidi 30 yards from goal, strode forward and coolly slotted past Ward to put us 3-2 ahead. Lloris denied Daka with a wonderful diving save just before the hour mark but we finally put daylight between ourselves and the Foxes with Son’s first goal, the substitute curling right-footed from 25 yards out into the top corner for his first of the season in the 73rd minute. He repeated the feat soon after but this time with his left foot, another superb strike, but the biggest cheer of the night was saved for his hat-trick, coming in the 86th minute when he slid the ball past Ward with a VAR check confirming he wasn’t offside in the build up, after the goal had initially been disallowed.

'In the second half, we have seen another game'

Antonio Conte told SPURSPLAY: "It was an important win, to get three points was vital for us. I thought we started well, but after 10 minutes we conceded a penalty. Then, Hugo was good to save the penalty, but to have another bad situation was not so good for the confidence, but, at the same time, we were very good to score the two goals. After that, we lost a bit of confidence to play the ball, I saw my players a bit scared, I don’t know why, but we have to work on this aspect.

"In the second half, we have seen another game, we played with confidence, with great energy. In the first half, around 20, 25 minutes, we didn’t have so much energy. In the second half we had a lot of energy. That means that maybe we have to improve our mentality and manage that well."

Highlights on SPURSPLAY

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Kane 8, Dier 21, Bentancur 47, Son 73, 84, 86; Leicester – Tielemans 5 (pen), Maddison 41.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Perisic; Leicester – Ndidi, Daka.

Referee: Simon Hooper.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Sunny, gentle breeze, 16 degrees.

Attendance: 61,450.