Tottenham were beaten 3-0 at the hands of Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon, with the club suffering their first defeat of the Premier League season. After winning their opening three matches without conceding a goal, Spurs were comfortably beaten after a nightmare second-half showing in south London. At 0-0, Japhet Tanganga was shown two yellow cards which put the visitors at a man disadvantage, which ended up costing Tottenham, with Palace netting three second-half goals. Spurs’ defeat came without Son Heung-min, who suffered a calf injury while on international duty with South Korea recently. Nuno Espirito Santo, when quizzed about Son’s injury in his pre-match press conference, admitted the forward was “not so well”.
Nuno Espirito Santo said: “Like some of our players he came with issues. Sonny is not so well. Let’s wait for the club to make the announcement.”
When asked whether Son had suffered a long-term problem,
Nuno Espirito Santo replied: “I don’t know. Let’s wait and see. The doctors will make the analysis.”
Son, alongside Harry Kane, was Spurs’ standout performer last season and is undoubtedly a big miss to the north London club. Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, when speaking on talkSPORT, via the Express, insisted that Son’s absence will have a bigger impact on Tottenham than if Kane was sidelined.
Nuno Espirito Santo said: “Spurs, for me, were very poor. Watching the game, I thought they lacked ideas. We spoke in the week about [Steven] Bergwijn being out, Son being out. We talk about: can Spurs play without Harry Kane? But can they play without Son? Spurs looked very poor. [Lucas] Moura wasn’t really doing it. Dele Alli worked hard but he wasn’t really at the races. Harry Kane looked a bit fed up. I’m just looking at him and he looked very fed up. Maybe he wishes that [Manchester City] move had gone through. He looked frustrated. Spurs do this a lot to their fan base – they get them excited and then knock them down. It could be one of those seasons for them.”
With the extent of Son’s calf injury still largely unknown, Tottenham could be without the South Korea international for upcoming clashes with Stade Rennais and Chelsea. Spurs face French club Rennes on Thursday evening in their opening Europa Conference League group stage match, before hosting the Blues, who are joint-top of the table, on Sunday in the Premier League.