With Son Heung-min silent for two consecutive games, his team, Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League, also tasted bitter at home. Son Heung-min played full time in his first North London derby of the season, but failed to prevent Tottenham's defeat.
Tottenham, led by Son Heung-min, lost 0-1 after a fierce battle with rival Arsenal in the fourth round of the 2024-2025 Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on the 15th .
Due to the defeat, Tottenham ended up in a two-game losing streak after a draw at Leicester City in the opening match and a win at Everton in the opening match. The team lost 1-2 in an away match against Newcastle United just before the A-match break, and lost at an away match against Arsenal in the immediate aftermath of the break. Newcastle and Arsenal are competing with Tottenham in the top ranks this season, which makes the defeat all the more painful. With one win, one draw and two losses (four points), Tottenham fell to 13th place.
As the gap with Wolverhampton (point 1), ranked 18th in the relegation zone, is only three points apart, the possibility of competing in the lower ranks cannot be excluded if no improvement is made in future moves. On the other hand, Arsenal rose to second place with three wins, one draw and 10 points.
Son Heung-min, who led South Korea to victory against Oman with one goal and two assists in the second round of the Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup in Oman on the 10th, wore the captain's armband in his first game after returning to his team, but bowed his head.
On this day, Tottenham presented a 4-3-3 model. Guglielmo Vicario defended the goal, while Destiny Udogi, Mickey Panderpen, Christian Romero and Pedro Porro made up the back four. James Madison, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski were in charge of the midfield, while Son Heung-min, Dominique Solanke and Brennan Johnson were on the front-line three-top.
Arsenal faced off with a 4-2-3-1 formation. David Raya wore goalie gloves, while Wirien Timber, Gabrieu Magalyangis, William Saliba and Ben White made the back four. Thomas Partey and Jorginho worked together at the third line, while Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka appeared at the second line. Leandro Trossar aimed for Tottenham's goal from the front line.
Tottenham got off to a good start. Son aimed to score through triangular passes with Solanke and Kulusevski in the fifth minute of the first half.
Tottenham, which pushed the opponent with a kickoff in the first half, got a decisive chance in the fifth minute of the first half. Son Heung-min and Solanke changed seats, and Solanke returned to the left side and passed to Son Heung-min, who was digging in the middle.
Son Heung-min gave it back and delivered it to Kulusevski, but Raya cleared his left footed shot with animal reflexes. In the 10th minute of the first half, he also got a free kick near the left touchline.
Son Heung-min, who worked diligently on the left side and center throughout the game, came down to a low position in the second half to add strength to the midfield, but failed to create a noticeable scene.
Tottenham seemed to have a sharp cross into the goal in the 7th minute of the first half, but Raya hit it again. In the 11th minute of the first half, Solanke had a good chance on the left side of the penalty area through forward pressure, but his shooting timing was slow and he was blocked by the opponent.
Afterwards, Arsenal pushed up little by little and targeted Tottenham's goal. In the 19th minute of the first half, Martinelli penetrated the opponent's defense from the left side and shot his right foot with a one-on-one chance with Vicario, but it was not threatening.
In the 28th minute of the first half, Madison, who received Son Heung-min's left side pass, crossed from the left outer side of the penalty area and Solanke tried to shoot a lob header in a difficult motion, but he missed the goal.
In the 37th minute of the first half, there was a collision between the two teams, reflecting the name of the North London derby. When the right defender broke through the prisoner, Timber stepped on the right ankle of the prisoner, and the ball flowed toward Tottenham's goal, and Vicario grabbed Timber by the collar. Immediately, the players of the two teams began to flock to Tottenham's goal line. In the end, Timber and Vicario were warned.
In the extra time of the first half, Johnson connected the ball that Kulusevski took out to the right in a mixed situation with the gate, but failed to score after crossing the crossbar. Shortly after the start of the second half, when the score was 0-0, Tottenham tapped the goal with Solanke's diving header and Panderpen's header, but it was ineffective.
Tottenham, which was dangerous due to a lot of cards after a bloody battle, received five warnings in the first half alone, eventually gave up the only goal of the game in the second half.
Arsenal scored the first goal in the 19th minute of the second half. It came from a corner kick. Magalyangis curled up Saka's cross as kicker and ran to the center to hit him in the head. The ball shook Tottenham's net, making it a valuable first goal. Romero marked Magalyangis during set-piece defense, but his eyes were on another player, and Magalyangis fired a header without any interruption and laughed in the end.
As the attack hardly went away, Tottenham put in Timo Werner instead of Madison in the 35th minute of the second half to increase the number of forwards and play a 4-4-2 formation. Arsenal also brought in Trossar and Martinelli, while Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling were added. Sterling, who moved from Chelsea to Arsenal on loan this summer, made his Arsenal debut as a substitute against Tottenham.
In the end, there was no more scoring other than Magalyangis' goal, and Tottenham lost. Tottenham suffered the humiliation of never winning Arsenal in the last six games. 메이저놀이터
Shortly after the match, soccer media Sofa Score gave Son a 7.0 rating. However, this was easy because it was a statistic based on quantitative figures, and media that scored qualitative evaluation rolls gave low scores.
"Football London" gave Son a rating of 5, which is the lowest between the two teams. He also received a rating of 5 in the Evening Standard, which is the lowest score after Romero (4 points), who missed the opponent team's markman during the final shot.