Son shines as Tottenham topple Leicester in FA Cup replay

Lee Gormley | January 20, 2016

Leicester City 0-2 Tottenham

Foxes hunted down by dominant Spurs

Tottenham booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City, with Son Heung-Min scoring and assisting the goals in a third round replay at a rapturous King Power Stadium.

In what was the third meeting in 10 days between these two Premier League sides, Son shone brightly for the Londoners, blasting in a sensational first-half strike before accurately setting up Nacer Chadli for a well-worked second.

Tottenham take early control

A trip to League One’s Colchester United was the prize up for grabs in this third round replay, and it was Ranieri’s hosts that began brightest, with the quick-footed Demarai Gray causing more trouble down the left flank, after doing so in the previous Spurs encounter.

Both travelling full backs were finding plenty of space on each wing, with right-sided Kyle Walker enjoying the freedom to roam forward and cross for his teammate Ben Davies on the opposite flank, but Leicester managed to clear any danger after nine minutes.

Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen had been flourishing in recent weeks and was once again looking a threat centrally for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, with the playmaker ghosting into the Foxes penalty area to send a shot wide after a great link-up between Davies and Son.

The latter South Korea international was starting to grow into proceedings and almost wriggled his way into the area, with the presence of Foxes defenders Yohan Benalouane and Ben Chilwell enough to thwart any imminent danger.

Son strikes to inject life into tie

Spurs had held a solid shape throughout the opening stages, with Leicester being the cagier of the two sides, but the hosts finally sprung to life on 25 minutes when Chilwell burst down the left and cut inside to win a free-kick in a promising position. Although, the subsequent close-range attempt from Gokhan Inler caused Michel Vorm minimal hassle between the Foxes sticks.

Tom Carroll and Nabil Bentaleb were dictating play from the centre of Tottenham’s midfield and had little pressure put on them, and their steady build-up led to a left-footed Davies delivery finding an arriving Chadli, but he couldn’t keep his thumping header below the crossbar.

For all the visitor’s dominance in possession, they were lacking a killer instinct to finish off any attacking moves, while Leicester were simply unable to get a grip of the game, as both team’s star strikers Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy watched on from the bench.

However, with the break approaching, Son didn’t need anyone to cap-off his swift forward movement as he went it alone and lashed home a cracking strike past Kasper Schmeichel after 39 minutes to liven up a so far underwhelming cup tie.

Okazaki and Kane introduced

Ranieri opted to thrust Shinji Okazaki into the action in the previous Spurs meeting, a change which altered the Foxes’ fate that time. The Italian was hoping for a similar impact on home soil this time around as he launched his Japanese attacker into proceedings yet again.

The menacing impact sub did make a difference in the final third, causing havoc with his unpredictable movement, and his lay-off saw wideman Gray unleash a curling attempt on goal which Vorm was just able to stop with an acrobatic dive to his left.

Eric Lamela soon wasted a glorious chance to help his side extend their advantage, getting the better of Marcin Wasilewski on 56 minutes to dance towards the Foxes goal, before opting for the wrong pass towards Eriksen, with Son in acres of promising space to his left side.

Following the fluffed chance, Lamela made way for Kane on the hour mark, as Spurs sought out another goal, and it nearly came when the latter England hitman was teed-up by Son after lovely flowing movement from Eriksen, but Schmeichel stood strong.

Son stars as Chadli adds another

Son was enjoying himself at the King Power Stadium in an eventual man of the match performance and he was the player to inspire a second goal for Pochettino’s Spurs after 66 minutes, perfectly playing through Chadli who clinically dispatched past a helplessly outstretched Schmeichel.

With time running out for the home side, it was finally time to bring on key marksman Vardy in a bid to overturn their two-goal deficit, but the club’s leading frontman was unable to spark such a revival as Tottenham comfortably set up a fourth round Colchester clash with a 2-0 triumph.

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