Son Heung-min ended his scoring drought in stunning fashion with a sublime hat-trick as Tottenham Hotspur crushed Leicester City 6-2 to move joint top of the Premier League on Saturday.
Rodrigo Bentancur’s first goal for Tottenham was separating the sides in an entertaining tussle but Son, who started on the bench, exploded back to form with three goals in 13 minutes.
The South Korean, the Premier League’s joint-top scorer last season, had not scored in Tottenham’s first eight games.
Leicester took an early lead with a twice-taken penalty by Youri Tielemans but Tottenham hit back quickly with Harry Kane powering in a header at the far post.
Tottenham went ahead in the 21st minute as defender Eric Dier marked his return to the England squad with a glancing header from a corner.
Bottom-placed Leicester were lively in attack though and James Maddison’s superb finish sent them in level at halftime.
Bentancur seized on a mistake to restore Tottenham’s lead in the 47th minute but Son went on to steal the show.
After coming on in the 59th minute, he curled an unstoppable right-footer into the top corner in the 73rd minute, then curled a left-footer into the opposite side 11 minutes later.
Son then completed his hat-trick after running on to a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg through ball.