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Son Heung-min continued their fantastic start to the season as Tottenham returned to winning ways in the Premier League by beating Burnley at Turf Moor.
Moments after Harry Kane cleared the line to deny Burnley defender James Tarkowski the opener, the England captain provided the assist for Son to return home in the 76th minute.
South Korea’s eighth goal in the top flight of the campaign proved the difference as Spurs clung to victory, drawing a line by conceding three goals in the final 10 minutes against West Ham.
Thus, Burnley’s winless start to the season was extended after the Kane-Son axis once again helped the mediocre Spurs to three points.
The pair have been prolific in the early stages of the campaign: Kane has scored five goals and claimed his eighth assist Monday night, with Tottenham scoring 31 times in their last nine games.
They failed to register a shot on goal in the first half, while José Mourinho resisted the temptation to bring in Gareth Bale, who is still awaiting his first Premier League start in seven years.
Mourinho responded to West Ham’s mishap by bringing back Eric Dier to shore up the defense in one of seven changes to the team that beat LASK in the Europa League, with Bale settling for a bench spot again.
Dier’s center-back teammate Toby Alderweireld needed a head wrap after being caught by Ashley Barnes’s arm in an aerial challenge during a soft opening from both sides.
Tottenham saw plenty of ball but was largely stifled by a compact defense from Burnley, with Son, who had scored nine goals in his previous eight games in all competitions, with no room to explode in the final third.
Burnley had the ball in the back of the net through Ashley Barnes, but had drifted a couple of yards offside while it wasn’t until the 38th minute that a brutalizing game to that point had its first shot on goal.
From the edge of the area, first Ashley Westwood and then Johann Berg Gudmundsson forced Hugo Lloris to make low saves, the second most difficult shot but still handled comfortably by the Tottenham goalkeeper.
Burnley’s increased urgency continued into the second half, but they largely stayed under control, with Alderweireld putting his body on the line to block a couple of shots from Chris Wood.
The game came to life in the final 20 minutes as Tarkowski rose higher to meet Westwood’s corner, but Harry Kane stepped over the line to deny Burnley a certain goal.
Moments later, at the other end, Son hesitated after passing, allowing Kevin Long to back off and make a last-minute tackle, but the South Korean was not denied again when Tottenham broke the deadlock.
Substitute Erik Lamela’s corner was thrown by Kane into the back post, where Son expertly directed his header into the top corner.
Lamela was perhaps lucky not to receive at least one caution after showing off his cleats in a challenge to Dwight McNeil, who was able to continue, while Burnley was unable to engineer anything significant as the Spurs claimed their first clean sheet in the league this season.
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