Tottenham thrash Burnley as sublime Son Heung-min scores goal of the season contender

Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 Burnley: Harry Kane, Lucas Moura, Moussa Sissoko and a sublime strike from Son helped Spurs past an underwhelming Burnley

Son scored a wonder goal for Spurs (Getty)

That’s one way to bounce back. Whatever angst there may have been from Tottenham's defeat to Manchester United in midweek was used to fuel a dominant 5-0 win against Burnley.

The manner of victory here, which took Spurs up to 5th, of precision and utter dominance was characterised by one of the goals of the season courtesy of Son Heung-Min.

It summed up the very best of the South Korean: his first touch to turn on the edge of his own box was immaculate and positive, much like the others that took him the 90 yards towards the Burnley goal. For about half of it he was assessing options, eyes flashing from left to right, checking and re-checking, in case someone in white was better-placed. With one final assessment as he approached the halfway line, he realised it was all on him.

At no point did his pace waiver and thus each of the six players he beat stayed beaten. Nick Pope became the seventh when Son steadied himself and lifted his shot over the diving keeper to make it three nil. A shiny memento to go with his Asian player of the year trophy which was handed to him before the match by fellow South Korean Park Ji-Sung.

No player has had a better time of it at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium – this was his ninth goal to go with six assists in 15 appearances here – but beyond these bright lifts, Son has been the most consistent performer during 2019’s darker periods. And while Harry Kane can lay claim to being Spurs’ most valuable player which bore out with his two goals and assist – Son is as uncontested as the second.

The final quarter-of-an-hour summed up just how easy this felt for the hosts. The cheers for the full-time whistle brought an end to the pockets of chatter taking place among fans who were resting easy after Moussa Sissoko had made it 5-0 in the 74-minute.

But there were nerves before kick-off after Wednesday’s defeat . After all, this is still a Spurs squad whose confidence is being nurtured back to where it was this time last year, and eight of those involved today were involved in the 2-1 loss at Turf Moor in February. A defeat which finished with Mauricio Pochettino confronting Mike Dean on the pitch. But things got a lot more chilled very quickly.

It was 3-0 after 32 minutes, two of those notched in the opening 10. The first, after just four, perhaps the most disappointing for Burnley to concede given its ease and earliness.

Toby Alderweireld’s ball forward was as much a clearance as a pass, and with Son in space down the left, he let the ball drop at his feet to touch it into Harry Kane’s stride. Still, there was no sense of urgency from Burnley and Kane never needs an invitation to have a dip from distance. The top corner was found from 20 yards and so began the onslaught.

The second, in hindsight, could be regarded a bit of reconnaissance from Son: the brittleness of the visiting backline laid bare when he found himself in possession and was able to move from out wide to the cusp of the six-yard box. Pope saved his shot, but the rebound flicked on by Dele Alli and poked home from less than a yard by Lucas Moura.

With the wind knocked out of Burnley after Son’s mazy run - the man himself also needed a breather – the result was all-but guaranteed. Eight minutes after the re-start, Kane shifted inside and blazed his ninth of the season from about half the distance of his first. He then played acted as the wall for Sissoko’s one-two as the scoring was completed.

All that was left was a bit of box-ticking. Aaron Lennon, 10 years a Spurs player, came on to a rousing reception from both sets of fans. Then, with five minutes left, precocious 17-year old Troy Parrot came on for his Premier League debut.

At full-time, Jose Mourinho went out of his way to wrestle the ball away from Son’s clutches and hand it to Parrot as a memento of his own. Mourinho had his too – a first clean sheet as Spurs manager.