Thorne, Maddison goals against Fulham keep Spurs unbeaten in opening nine games
Son ranks second in EPL scoring behind Holland with nine goals, earns third ‘MOM‘ in fourth and seventh rounds
Madison “Son Heung-min is world class”
Tottenham captain Son Heung-min
Right, plays darts with teammate James Maddison after scoring an assist on the
latter’s goal in the ninth minute of the 2023-24 English Premier League home match
against Fulham on Thursday. Tottenham vice-captain Maddison is an avid darts player. Tottenham won 2-0.
Son Heung-min (Tottenham) led his team’s unbeaten run with two attacking points.
Son started Tottenham’s first game of the 2023-2024 English Premier League (EPL)
season against Fulham on Thursday, scoring a goal and adding an assist in a 2-0 win.
It was Son’s seventh goal in the league this season, tying him with Muhammad Salah
(Liverpool) for second on the list. They are two goals behind the top scorer, Elling
Holland (Manchester City – 9). Heung-min scored 23 goals in the 2021-2022 season,
when he and Salah were joint top scorers, and is scoring at nearly twice the pace.
Heung-min became the first Asian player to lead the EPL in goals in the 2021-2022 season, scoring four goals by the ninth round.
Playing up front against Fulham, Son opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a
right-footed curling shot from the center of the box just outside the penalty area. Nine
minutes into the second half, he assisted on James Maddison’s goal to make it 2-0. It
was Son’s first assist of the season. “The pass was really good,” said Maddison, who
scored his third goal of the season off an assist from Son Heung-min. Heung-min is
world class.” Son and Maddison were substituted in the 37th minute of the second half.
Heung-min
Was named Man of the Match (MOM), the best player of the match. This is his third
MOM of the season, following his performances in Rounds 4 and 7. Soccer stats
specialists Sofascore and WhoScored.com gave Son an 8.9 rating. It was the highest for
any player on either team. After the game, Son said, “The whole team is going in a good
direction. But it’s not perfect. We shouldn’t be complacent,” he said. “We still have a lot
of games left, so we need to prepare for the next one.” The EPL plays 38 games in a season.
With the three-game winning streak, Spurs have gone nine games unbeaten since the
start of the season. With seven wins and two draws (23 points), Spurs moved into first
place, ahead of defending champion Manchester City (7 wins, 2 draws, 21 points).
“There have been a total of eight times in EPL history that a team has recorded 23 or
more points after the opening nine games, and four of those teams have gone on to
win the league title,” said the BBC. The last time Tottenham won the top flight of English
professional soccer was in 1961, prior to the EPL’s inception (1992). Spurs’ best finish
since the inception of the EPL was second place in the 2016-2017 season.
Tottenham manager Anze Postecoglou
Made EPL history with the win. He became the first manager to win his first nine EPL
games. The previous record was 22 points by Gus Hiddink, who managed Chelsea from
2008-2009, and Mike Walker, who managed Norwich City (now in the second division)
from 1992-1993. “The second half was really disappointing, probably the worst 45
minutes we’ve played in a while,” Postecoglou said, despite his team’s third straight win and move to the top of the league. 슬롯사이트
