The England national soccer team is loaded with world-class right fullbacks (lateral defenders). In ESPN’s ranking of the best right fullbacks in the world in July, Trent Alexander-Arnold (25-Liverpool) was ranked sixth, Reece James (24-Chelsea) was fourth, and Kyle Walker (33-Manchester City) was third, with English players dominating the top spots, with Kieran Trippier (33-Newcastle) the highest-ranked. Ranked second overall behind Moroccan Ashraf Hakimi (25-Paris Saint-Germain), Trippier’s ability to play both right and left fullback makes him indispensable for England. His offensive abilities are also evident in his seven assists this season, tied for first in the English Premier League (EPL) with Muhammad Salah (31-Liverpool) and Pedro Neto (23-Wolverhampton).
On Nov. 11 (ET), Son Heung-min (31-Tottenham) made that trifecta an “automatic” one. In the 16th round of the 2023-2024 EPL between Tottenham and Newcastle, Son Heung-min, who started on the left wing, received the ball on the left flank in the 26th minute. With Trippier in front of him, he took a split-second dribble to the left before sending in a sharp left-footed cross. Destiny Udogie (21) slotted it home with his left foot to make it 1-0. In the 38th minute, Son again found himself on the left flank, this time beating Trippier with a perfect dribble before laying the ball off for Hicharlison (26) to slot home with his left foot to make it 2-0. With the score at 3-0, Son was tripped up by the opposition goalkeeper as he attempted a late breakaway. He converted the penalty he had earned in the 40th minute to give Tottenham a 4-1 victory over Newcastle and break a five-match winless streak (one draw, four losses). Son scored his league-leading 10th goal (3rd) and added 3-4 assists to move into 3rd place in attacking points (14).
The returning winger has been outstanding. Tottenham manager Angie Postecoglou (58-Australia) said, “If you look at the last couple of weeks, most of our chances have come from the wing-forward side. I thought if we moved Son back to the left, it would give him more options to score goals.” As expected, Son was one of the main contributors to the victory, neutralizing Trippier, who played with him for four years at Tottenham. “I’m close with Trippier, but there are no friends in a match. I tried to beat him,” he said. Son was named the EPL’s fan-voted MOM-Man of the Match for the sixth time this season. The BBC named Son Heung-min to its EPL Team of the Week.
With his 10th goal in the league, the first Asian player to score in the EPL, and seventh in history, he has scored double-digit goals in eight consecutive EPL seasons. The previous record was 11 seasons held by Wayne Rooney (38-current Birmingham City manager), who scored 10 or more goals in every season from 2004-2005 to 2014-2015 with Manchester United. Son’s former Tottenham teammate Harry Kane, 30, had his streak interrupted by a move to Bayern Munich (Germany) this season after nine consecutive seasons of double-digit goals.
Unlike the German Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1 and other leagues that have a nearly three-week winter break after the 21st, the EPL has a grueling schedule this month, with six or seven games per team. After leading the league at the start of the season, Spurs 토토사이트 have recently lost key midfielder James Maddison, 27, and defender Micky Van der Vaart, 22, to injury and have slipped to fifth place (30-9W-3D-4L), which puts an extra weight on the shoulders of ‘Captain’ Son Heung-min. “After the loss to West Ham in the last game, I told my teammates that we need to be more ruthless and calm in the penalty area, and it worked well today,” he said, “We want to keep playing like this.” Tottenham host 16th-placed Nottingham on Saturday at 5am in the 17th round of the league.