Pundit thrilled by 'absolutely excellent' Son Heung-min Tottenham return in new Champions League verdict
Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou's hopes of Champions League qualification this season have received a boost following Spurs "legend" Son Heung-min's return to action, according to Alan Hutton.
The South Korean international returned to the fold from the bench against Brighton to assist Brennan Johnson's stoppage-time winner over the Seagulls to help Spurs climb back into the Premier League's top four and the Champions League places.
Spurs faired reasonably well without their captain, with excellent performances from the likes of Richarlison partnered with the introduction of Timo Werner allowing Postecoglou's side to keep pace with the division's title challengers.
While Hutton was impressed by Tottenham's displays without Son, he has admitted that the 31-year-old has returned at the perfect moment to help Spurs kick on and cement their place in the top four ahead of Aston Villa and Manchester United.
"It's huge to have him back," Hutton told Tottenham News.
"To miss him while he was away at the Asian Cup would have been difficult, but it was an opportunity for people like Timo Werner to come in and stamp their authority on the team.
"But to have a player like that who is arguably a legend at the club now, come back in at this moment in time to really go for that top-four position in the league is absolutely excellent.
"You see him when he comes on, he's desperate to get involved and there is a hype when he gets on the ball and of course, he was part of them scoring that winning goal.
"Spurs are very strong at this moment in time, I think Ange will be very happy. He's got a lot of his star players back and the injury crisis seems to be over at this moment in time so they are heading in the right direction."
Tottenham legend Son Heung-min ready to fire Ange Postecoglou to Champions League
Despite missing several games at the start of 2024, Son has managed to score 12 goals and lay on a further six assists for his teammates in 20 Premier League starts this term, earning plenty of praise from both supporters and pundits for his efforts.
Tottenham managed to keep the pace with the top-four while their skipper was away on international duty, with plenty of other stars stepping up, now that the modern-day legend has returned, Postecoglou's side can begin to pull away from the chasing pack.
The only thing Spurs have to make sure to avoid is a recurrence of the injury crisis which plagued them earlier in the campaign, otherwise, things could head off course very quickly.
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