View: All eyes on Son Heung-min to continue impressive Tottenham goalscoring record v Palace
Tottenham head to South London on Friday night to take on Crystal Palace knowing they can extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points.
After nine matches, Ange Postecoglou’s men are unbeaten and have collected 23 points, two more than Manchester City and Arsenal in second place and third place respectively.
Son Heung-min has put to bed his poor form of last season to shine in the opening matches of the campaign and currently has seven goals in his nine league apperarances.
He’ll no doubt be aiming to build on that against Palace, who have been a team he’s made quite the habit of scoring against in his career.
In 14 Premier League matches against the Eagles, Son has scored seven times and also supplied two assists.
He’s never lost against the South London club and been on the winning side 12 times.
Spurs’ performance away at Selhurst Park last term was arguably one of their best in what was a terrible campaign. Son was on the scoresheet as the North Londoners won 4-0 while Harry Kane bagged a brace and Matt Doherty also netted.
With Son now adopting more of a number-nine role in the Spurs side, the odds will no doubt be stacked even more in his favour to get on the scoresheet at Palace on Friday night (27 October).
According to stats by FBRef, the South Korea international has generated an xG of 3.5 in the Premier League this season, which means he’s actually scored double the number of goals he should have done from a statistical point of view.
Erling Haaland, by comparison, has nine goals in the Premier League but has an xG of 8.2, Mohamed Salah has seven goals and an xG of 6.6, Jarrod Bown has six goals and an xG of 3.7 and Alexander Isak has six goals and an xG of 5.4.
It shows that Son is by far and away the most lethal finisher in the Premier League right now because he’s scoring at times when you wouldn’t even expect him to.
Palace were always going to be underdogs against Spurs but they’re even more so with Son up front in the devastating form he’s been in this season and against the Eagles in recent years.
In other Tottenham news, Postecoglou is happy to have Yves Bissouma available to play against Palace.