Son Heung-min leads Tottenham back to top of table with 2-0 win over Fulham

Tottenham Hotspur climbed straight back to the top of the Premier League table on Monday, beating Fulham 2-0 to remain undefeated nine games into the 2023-24 season.

Tottenham's Son Heung-min celebrates after scoring the opening goal during a Premier League match against Fulham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Monday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur climbed straight back to the top of the Premier League table on Monday, beating Fulham 2-0 to remain undefeated nine games into the 2023-24 season.

The win was par the course for Ange Postecoglou’s transformed Tottenham squad, overwhelming Fulham not with dramatically more possession or power but with a creativity and energy that has proven unstoppable so far this campaign.

Captain Son Heung-min was again at the center of the action, scoring the opener in the 36th minute and then assisting James Maddison for goal No. 2 in the 54th.

Both goals came from Fulham giving away the ball in a bad spot — Richarlison picked up the loose ball for the first goal, picking out Son who volleyed it into the top corner, with Son then doing almost the exact same thing for Maddison in the second half.

Tottenham's Son Heung-min, right, scores his side's opening goal during a Premier League match against Fulham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

Spurs had plenty of other opportunities — if there’s anything to complain about, it’s that the score was not higher — but were unable to convert. Fulham also created some chances, but Spurs stuck with the plan and shut down anything before it became too threatening.

It wasn’t all perfect. While Maddison and Son were calm and collected and even Richarlison seemed more comfortable with his role in the squad than he has for months, Dejan Kulusevski looked a little timid and Pierre Hojbjerg’s timing was off, resulting in an early yellow card.

Postecoglou was characteristically blunt about how he thought the team performed, criticizing the second half in his post-match interview.

“I thought we were really wasteful with the ball in the second half,” he said. “We took some liberties with taking extra touches. I’ve been around long enough to know if you try to take liberties, you’ll get dragged down pretty quickly.

“I’m not going to let the fact that we’ve won the game disguise the opportunity there for us to improve.”

Despite the team’s success this season — Arsenal are the only other undefeated team and they have one less win than Spurs — Postecoglou reiterated that he still thinks there is a long way to go.

“What I’m saying is that we have to improve,” he said. “That responsibility is on me to make sure we do. We can be better, absolutely we can. Within that context, without the ball I thought we were brilliant tonight. We were outstanding. Let’s not discount it.

“It takes a hell of a lot of effort and commitment from the boys to that side of the game. That was there the whole time. That side of the game got us the victory tonight. But we need to be better when we have the ball as well.”

Monday’s goal was Son’s 50th at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — where he was also the first player ever to score on the ground’s opening day back on April 3, 2019 — a milestone only beaten by former Spurs star Harry Kane. Among current Premier League players, only Mohamed Salah of Liverpool has scored more goals on a single pitch, with 65 at Anfield.

Son now has seven goals and one assist this season, tying with Salah for second in the Premier League goal standings behind Erling Haaland of Manchester City with nine. This isn’t the first time Son and Salah have tied on goals — the pair split the 2021-22 Golden Boot.

Son isn’t the only Korean footballer near the top of the table. Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan is currently tied for sixth with five goals to his name.

Spurs have little time to rest this as they’ll be back in action in the Premier League on Friday as they take on Crystal Palace on the road in south London. That game will be followed by a match against Chelsea on Nov. 6 before the highly-anticipated Korean derby against Wolves on Nov. 11.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]