A bad day for Tottenham against Newcastle United got even worse when Jose Mourinho confirmed that Son Heung-min had been substituted at half-time due to a hamstring injury after his side’s 1-1 draw.
The South Korean forward had been in superb form for Spurs last weekend, scoring four times during their 5-2 win over Southampton at St Mary’s and started brightly against Newcastle.
Son hit both the post and bar in the opening 45 minutes with two curling efforts on his left foot from outside the penalty area but he failed to make it out for the second half with Steven Bergwijn brought on in his place.
There was speculation that the 28-year-old had been withdrawn as a precaution with Spurs set to play Chelsea, Maccabi Haifa and Manchester United over the next seven days.
However, Mourinho’s post-match assessment suggests that Son could be out of action for some time.
The Spurs boss, who was obviously disappointed at the manner in which his team were denied a victory deep into stoppage time, delivered a series of one-word answers when asked about Son’s condition.
When asked whether Son was injured or rested, Mourinho replied “injured”, before answering “yes” after being asked whether he expected to be without him for some time. On the injury itself, he said it was a hamstring problem.
Son followed up his four goals against Southampton with a goal and assist against North Macedonian side Shkendija in the Europa League qualifier on Thursday night and his absence will be a big blow to his side.
Much has been made of Tottenham’s hectic fixture list which sees them play once every few days in the opening weeks of the season and Mourinho will surely feel that has contributed towards Son’s injury.
Son has generally steered clear of injuries since joining Spurs from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 although he did miss two months of last season with a broken arm sustained in a win over Aston Villa in February.
Tottenham dominated the match against Newcastle from start to finish, registering 23 shots overall and forcing the opposition goalkeeper Karl Darlow into 11 saves. However, they were unable to score a crucial second goal after Lucas Moura had handed them a 25th-minute lead.
Their profligacy was punished in the most dramatic fashion possible when Eric Dier was harshly adjudged to have handled inside the penalty area after an Andy Carroll knockdown with Callum Wilson converting the subsequent penalty.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher slammed the penalty decision saying that the handball rule is “ruining football” while Newcastle boss Steve Bruce called it a “total nonsense”.
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