Gary Neville has hailed Heung-min Son for his display in Tottenham’s win over Arsenal and feels the South Korean smartly drew Rob Holding into being sent off.
Antonio Conte’s men secured a comprehensive 3-0 victory against the Gunners to move within one point of the Gunners, who currently occupy the final Champions League spot.
Harry Kane scored Spurs’ first from the spot after Son was nudged down by Cedric Soares before he added a second less than 10 minutes before half-time with a stooped header from close range.
But in between both tallies saw Holding receive his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card for a cynical block on Son, who received a rash forearm to his face.
The Arsenal defender was cautioned moments before, while he had already escaped punishment for two incidents with the 29-year-old earlier on in the first half.
Son, who later added Tottenham’s third and his 21st Premier League goal of the season, was simply too good for Holding to contend with, according to Neville, who feels the sending off was a moment of madness that turned the game in the hosts’ favour.
Neville wrote in his column for Sky Sports: “I was watching the run of Son [before the red card], I always watch those inside runs of the strikers to see what’s coming, particularly when there’s a ball there…
MORE SPURS STORIES
“I think if he leans, then he’s OK and he doesn’t get booked. But I think there’s a little bit of elbow in it and the VAR replays we saw straight away just confirmed that.
“It was absolute madness from Holding, it really was, and I do put that down to Son.
“Sometimes when you’re playing against a world-class player and you’ve got yourself in that state of ‘I’ve got to do this, I’ve got mark him’, you’ve probably watched too many videos of him.
“You watched him play last week against Liverpool and you’re thinking about how to deal with him.
“The worst thing was for me is if you’re playing against a player who is quicker than you, people tell you to drop off.
“So you do and then he’s good enough to beat you with the ball at his feet and go either way, and that when you’ve got a real top-class player, only the very best can do that.
“He’s absolutely outstanding, we mentioned he doesn’t get the recognition and I think that’s got into Holding’s head. So I’ve got some sympathy for him, it’s just sometimes you’re playing against a great player and it just gets the better of you.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Holding just couldn’t cope against Son and that was evident from the start with the two challenges that should have resulted in bookings, but went unpunished.
Son was then smart in staying on the Arsenal man while he was on a booking to draw in further mistakes, which he ended up managing to achieve.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
