Spurs hit Leicester for six as pressure mounts on Rodgers

Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur 6-2 Leicester City

Heung-min Son emphatically ended his eight-game goal drought with a 14-minute hat-trick as Tottenham came from behind to thrash Leicester 6-2 on Saturday.

Son was dropped to the bench after failing to score in any of Spurs’ opening matches of the season but kick-started his campaign with a magical cameo from the bench following his introduction on the hour, firing in two trademark long-range strikes before slotting his third past the hapless Danny Ward.

First-half headers from Harry Kane and Eric Dier and Rodrigo Bentancur’s first Spurs goal had seen Antonio Conte’s side bounce back from Youri Tielemans’ sixth-minute, retaken penalty and James Maddison’s magical hooked finish to lead 3-2 early in the second half.

But Son upstaged all that had come before as his memorable treble extended Tottenham’s unbeaten start to seven games and lifted Conte’s side above rivals Arsenal up to second in the table, level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Winless Leicester’s nightmare start to the campaign continued as a heavy sixth-consecutive defeat left the Foxes rooted to the foot of the table with just a single point after seven games as the pressure mounted on manager Brendan Rodgers.

After suffering their first defeat of the season at Sporting Lisbon, Spurs made the worst possible start to preserving their unbeaten domestic start, with Davinson Sanchez’s needless, clumsy foul on James Justin handing Leicester a fourth-minute penalty.

Heung-Min Son celebrates with teammates as he ends his goalless run.

Hugo Lloris saved Tielemans’ initial spot-kick, but Tottenham celebrations were short-lived. After the Spurs goalkeeper was found to have stepped off his line, a retake was ordered, and the Belgian made no mistake at the second attempt to give the visitors the lead.

Spurs were not behind for long, Kane’s fourth headed, and sixth goal of the season from Dejan Kulusevski’s in-swinging cross ensured Leicester’s lead lasted just two minutes and Dier completed the Tottenham comeback midway through the half when he glanced in Ivan Perisic’s corner at the near post.

Wilfred Ndidi deflected the ball into his own net five minutes later, but his blushes were spared when Sanchez’s foul on goalkeeper Danny Ward resulted in the effort being chalked off.

Spurs’ sloppiness in possession invited pressure from Leicester who, after Patson Daka fired tamely at Lloris and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall blazed over, equalised in exquisite fashion when Maddison hooked Timothy Castagne’s cross over the Spurs goalkeeper into the far corner.

Tottenham and Leicester could have gone in ahead at the break. Ward tipped Sanchez’s header onto the bar before Maddison’s low drive forced Lloris into action in stoppage time but, within two minutes of the restart, Ndidi was caught on the ball by Bentancur, who strode forward and put his first goal in English football away to restore the hosts’ lead.

Leicester pushed for a second equaliser saw Daka’s stooping header draw an exquisite, clawing save from Lloris, with the chance forcing Conte to turn to his substitutes Son, Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal to regain order. They delivered just that.

Son banished his early-season struggles with an unstoppable shot from 20 yards to give Spurs the breathing space they craved before he netted a stunning curled second off his left foot from the same range and sealed the matchball by linking up with Kane to complete a memorable treble.

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