Heung-min Son has praised Hugo Lloris for his performance against Aston Villa this evening, in which the Frenchman kept Steven Gerrard’s side at bay in the first half, against all odds.
Antonio Conte’s men secured an important three points at Villa Park on Saturday to retain fourth place in the Premier League, but crucially extend their lead over Arsenal to three points.
Spurs raced into a three-minute lead courtesy of Son, who fired a low effort in off the post after Harry Kane’s initial effort was blocked into his path.
From there, the visitors then had to deal with an onslaught from Villa, who squandered a number of good chances while forcing Spurs captain Lloris into constant action.
Tottenham then rallied in the second half to score another three goals, with Dejan Kulusevski padding the lead before Son added two to complete his hat-trick.
And the South Korean handed full praise to Lloris at the end of the game, after the Frenchman racked up eight saves en route to three points and a clean sheet (BBC).
When asked if Lloris deserved credit for his performance, Son told Sky Sports: “100 per cent. 100 per cent. We really struggled in the first half and Hugo, he saved us in the game today.
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“Probably he’s the winner today and I’m really grateful having this captain next to me.
Lloris added: “I think it’s the first since Antonio Conte took [charge] of the team that we conceded so many chances. It was a tough battle as we expected.
“I think we started really well with the goal and then they started to increase the intensity. We couldn’t match [them], we lost a lot of duels and we conceded a lot of chances.
“But after the storm, we took control in the second half and then with the quality that we have in front – players like [Kulusevski], like Harry [Kane], like [Son], they can make the difference at any moment and they did very well. Very pleased for Sonny for his hat-trick!”
Spurs Web Opinion
In the end, there were a good few strong performances but full credit has to go to Lloris who kept Spurs in the game during the first half. Hopefully, next time they won’t need to depend on their goalkeeper so much, but it is good that they can rely on him if and when they need him.
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