Sports

Spurs pound Leicester 6-2 on Son hat trick

Sports Desk, Sep 17 (EFE).- Son Heung-min’s second-half hat trick Saturday transformed a 3-2 contest into a 6-2 triumph for Tottenham Hotspur over Leicester City, who remain without a win seven matches into the Premier League season.

Spurs went level on points with Manchester City, but the defending champions are top of the table thanks to goal difference pending Sunday’s game between Brentford and third-place Arsenal, who can claim first place with a victory.

The Foxes, with a single point, remain bottom of the league.

A clumsy foul by Davinson Sanchez against Justin James in the 4th minute set up Youri Tielemans to put Leicester ahead from the spot, but Hugo Lloris saved it.

VAR, however, detected that the Tottenham keeper stepped off his line too early and Tielemans converted on his second try to give the visitors the advantage.

Less than two minutes later, Harry Kane brought Spurs level off a corner and the hosts led 2-1 in the 21st minute after Eric Dier got his head to Ivan Perisic’s corner kick.

Spurs let up and Leicester got back on terms before the break with an impressive goal by James Maddison.

The hosts started the second half in high gear and regained the lead in the 47th minute courtesy of Rodrigo Betancur, who robbed Wilfred Ndidi near the midfield line and beat Foxes keeper Danny Ward with a blast from distance.

The margin was still 3-2 in the 59th minute when Spurs coach Antonio Conte sent Son in for Richarlison, who had displaced the Korean striker in the starting 11 with impressive performances as a sub.

Son, who started the day without a goal to his name for the season, exploded for three in 13 minutes to seal all 3 points for Spurs.

Two of Manchester City’s talismans, Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne, got involved in the action Saturday with a goal and two assists, respectively, against a Wolverhampton Wanderers who went a goal down within a minute and played with 10 men for most of the match after a reckless challenge by Nathan Collins.

Wolves’ defensive strength – having conceded four in six games – was dismantled by City at the Molineux.

That tally jumped in the 54th second when De Bruyne put it on a plate for Jack Grealish to get his name on the scoreboard.

Haaland collected a loose ball in the 16th minute and exploited the space gifted to him by the Wolves defense, bringing toward the box and shooting back across José Sá into the bottom left-hand corner.

Wolves’ defensive woes took a turn for the worse when Collins got himself a straight red following a rash challenge on Grealish before half time.

The hosts held the scoreline at 0-2 until the 69th when Haaland linked with De Bruyne to set up Phil Foden, who bagged the third.

In Saturday’s other Premier League match, Newcastle United had to come from behind at home to secure a 1-1 draw with promoted Bournemouth. EFE id-rmm/jt-dr

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