Son Heung-min has admitted he’d sacrifice the Premier League Golden Boot to play within the Champions League. The race to complete within the fourth qualifying place will go all the way down to the ultimate day of the season if Tottenham beat Burnley on Sunday lunchtime. The three-0 win within the north London derby on Thursday stopped Arsenal of their tracks and reduced the gap between the 2 rivals to simply one point with two games left to go.
Son scored the third of those goals to take his tally to 21 for the season, only one behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah. With Cristiano Ronaldo, on 18, the one player inside seven of the Egyptian’s tally – and only having one game left to play – it looks like being a two-horse race.
Unlike within the World Cup version of the Golden Boot, which is set on the variety of assists if goals are equal, the Premier League has commonly been shared by joint-top scorers through the years. But Son says he just isn’t all in favour of any a part of the person honour if he cannot use his goals to get Tottenham back into the Champions League.
And he would willingly surrender his Golden Boot hopes entirely for a guarantee of a top-four finish within the Premier League. “It’s not essential,” he said.
“It might be nice but for us it will be significant for us to complete in the highest 4. Performance-wise, the sport against Arsenal was implausible and I’m very proud for the lads and well deserved. 100 per cent I could be blissful if I didn’t rating one other goal but Spurs got into the highest 4?
“Obviously it’s thing that you simply are racing for individual awards, but I actually have said a number of times that it’s more essential to complete in the highest 4 than anything.”
Son had a face like thunder when he was substituted shortly after scoring the third against a 10-man Arsenal team that was wobbling under the Tottenham onslaught. Manager Antonio Conte joked that he told Son to vow him he would rating a goal or two against Burnley as an alternative.
“I’m at all times not blissful at coming off because I need to be on the pitch because I really like playing football and I need to assist the team,” Son explained. “I can understand afterwards but for the time being you aren’t indignant but frustrated because you’re passionate on the pitch.
“I can understand why because we’ve got a extremely quick game on Sunday. I can’t promise I’ll rating but I’ll do my best and I’ll do my best for the team and if I don’t rating I’ll do my best.”
And if things do go well, team-mate Harry Kane has promised to do every thing he can to assist Son have his cake and eat it – even to the extent of letting him take any penalties to assist his personal tally if the points are within the bag. “Hopefully we are able to win him the Golden Boot, that’d be nice,” he said. “But after all he knows and we all know the three points are a very powerful thing.”
