Ask anyone who is currently the best team in the English Premier League (EPL), the best league in the world, and the answer is usually Manchester City. After winning the treble last season and looking to become the first team in history to win four consecutive league titles this season, there aren’t many teams in the world that can stop them.
A strong showing against such a team would be an important measure of a player’s quality. Son Heung-min (Tottenham) is the ‘City Killer’. The 14th round of the 2023-2024 EPL between Tottenham and Man City at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, on April 4, proved why Son is the best player in the world.
Son Heung-min started up front and played the full game, finishing with a goal and an assist. Tottenham drew 3-3 with Man City in a nail-biter, but it was a result they can smile about as they snapped a recent three-game losing streak at home to the EPL’s top team.
Son Heung-min has scored goals against a lot of teams for Tottenham. Against Man City, he has a stellar record of eight goals and four assists in 18 games. He also has five goals and four assists in the league and three goals in the UEFA Champions League. Only Southampton (12 goals, 7 assists) and Leicester City (10 goals, 5 assists) have scored more goals than City in the EPL.
From the start, Son’s ‘City killer’ instinct was on full display. With City’s defense pressing hard for chances, Heung-min rattled the City net in the sixth minute after Dejan Kulusevski’s long ball from his own half opened the door for a counter-attack, cutting in from the right flank and slotting a right-footed shot from inside the penalty area. He added an assist in the 24th minute, when Giovani Rosselso’s equalizer made it 1-2.
However, it wasn’t all laughing matter for Son. In the ninth minute of the first half, with City up 1-0, Son tried to clear a cross from Julian Alvarez on a free kick, but the ball hit his leg and went into the net for an own goal. With the own goal, Son became just the fifth player in EPL history to record a goal, an assist, and an own goal in the same game.
Spurs looked to be in trouble after conceding a goal to City’s Jack Grealish in the 36th minute at 2-2, but Kulusevski’s dramatic equalizer in the 45th minute earned them a point.
After the match, Son was named Man of the Match on the EPL’s official website. The goal took Son’s tally to nine in the league, putting him third on the all-time goalscoring list behind Holland (Man City – 14) and Muhammad Salah (Liverpool – 10).