With Son Heung-min (31), the “fox hunter”, silent, Tottenham suffered a reverse defeat to Leicester City.
Tottenham lost 1-4 to Leicester City in the 23rd round of the English Premier League in the 2022-23 season held at King Power Stadium in Leicester, England on the 12th (Korean time).
Tottenham took the lead with Rodrigo Bentancourt’s goal in the 14th minute of the first half, but gave up four goals. In the 23rd and 25th minutes of the first half, in extra time, Leicester City’s Nanfalis Mendy, James Madison and Kelechi Iheanacho conceded consecutive goals. In the 36th minute of the second half, Harvey Barnes conceded an additional goal. In particular, the Nigerian striker Iheanacho, who scored 1 goal and 1 assist, could not be stopped.
Tottenham, who stopped their two-game winning streak, ended up in 5th place (12 wins, 3 draws, 7 losses, 39 points) and failed to recapture 4th place, which is given the right to advance to the European Champions League next season. It failed to narrow the gap with Newcastle United (40 points) in fourth place, which played two games less. Tottenham, who caught Manchester City, the second-placed team in the league last weekend, showed the opposite performance this day.
On the other hand, Leicester City, who defeated Aston Villa 4-2 in the last game, drove 4 goals in 2 consecutive games. Leicester City has prepared a stepping stone to the mid-table with 7 wins, 3 draws and 12 losses (24 points).
A fox is drawn on the Leicester City emblem, and Son Heung-min has been strong in Leicester City so far and has been called a ‘fox hunter’. This is because he scored 10 goals against Leicester City, including a hat-trick in the 13th minute as a substitute in September last year. However, Son Heung-min played full-time on this day, but did not perform well and could not raise his attack points. 먹튀검증
Leicester City, led by Brandon Rodgers, exerted tight pressure from a high position in the first half. Tottenham players, including Son Heung-min, struggled. Son Heung-min, who was the top scorer with 23 league goals last season, only scored 4 league goals (8 goals in various competitions) this season. There are still 3 goals left to his 100th goal in the Premier League in his personal career.
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, who missed the match against Manchester City last weekend due to cholecystitis surgery earlier this month, returned to the bench that day. Son Heung-min started as a three-top with Harry Kane and Dejan Klusevski. Backup goalkeeper Fraser Foster wore goalkeeper gloves, but conceded four goals. The absence of the main goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, who was absent for six weeks due to a knee injury, was felt greatly.
In the 10th minute of the first half, Son Heung-min secured space with a dribble in midfield, and Kane stabbed a one-touch pass. Ivan Perisic broke through and shot a left-footed shot that went wide of the post. Three minutes later, Perici’s left-footed free kick was caught at the opposing goalkeeper’s fingertips.
In the 14th minute of the first half, Leicester City’s Viktor Christiansen erroneously kicked the Tottenham corner kick, and luckily Bentancur, who was in front of the right post, kicked the ball with his right foot. The goal was recognized after VAR (video review). Bentancourt became Tottenham’s second top scorer with his fifth league goal. In the 18th minute of the first half, Son Heung-min tried to break through the opponent’s two defenses with a dribble from the left flank, but was blocked.
In the 23rd minute of the first half, Tottenham Bentancourt managed to clear the opponent’s shot with a header in front of the goal. However, Leicester City’s Mendy ran into the flowing ball and shook the net with a powerful right-footed shot. Two minutes later, Ben Davies (Tottenham)’s pass was cut off by Bout Pars (Leicester City) with an active tackle and connected forward. Leicester City’s Iheanacho, who took over the ball, calmly gave it away, and Madison finished the game, turning the game 2-1.
In the extra time of the first half, Iheanacho (Leicester City), who received a pass from behind, kicked the ball into the left corner of the goal with his left foot with Eric Dyer (Tottenham) in front. Tottenham goalkeeper Foster fell and reached out, but to no avail.
In the 8th minute of the second half, Son Heung-min intercepted the ball in the opponent’s half, but the timing of the shot was not taken as the steps got tangled. The pass was given to Kane, but it was declared offside.
Tottenham’s Bentancourt collapsed with a knee injury and was replaced by Pape Sar in the 18th minute of the second half. In the 24th minute of the second half, Harvey Barnes shook the net with a right-footed shot from Iheanacho’s penetrating pass, but at the end of the VAR, the offside was declared with a narrow foot difference.
Dier kicked a free kick that Son Heung-min scored by breaking through the dribble, but it was blocked by the defensive wall. In addition to Richarlison, Emerson Royal and Davinson Sanchez, Conte also replaced Arnaut Danjuma. However, he gave up his fourth goal in the 35th minute of the second half. Barnes, who received a pass from Leicester City Madison, kicked a right-footed shot into the right corner of the goal near the arc.
In the 43rd minute of the second half, Son Heung-min’s right-footed volley shot went wide. Six minutes of extra time were given in the second half, but Tottenham could not score a comeback goal. Whoscored.com, a statistics company, gave Son Heung-min a rating of 6. Most Tottenham players, including Dyer (5.8 points), Klusepski (5.7 points), and Foster (5.7 points), received low ratings. Iheanacho gave the highest rating of 8.8.
Tottenham will play the first leg of the European Champions League Round of 16 away against AC Milan (Italy) at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy on the 15th. With midfielder Hoivier missing due to accumulated warnings, it is unclear whether he will play for Bentancur, who was injured that day.