Tottenham vs Bournemouth: Mauricio Pochettino hails Son Heung-min’s superb form

The South Korean international has been prolific since returning from the Asian Games, scoring seven goals in as many games

Mauricio Pochettino hailed Son Heung-min’s fantastic form after the South Korean scored twice in Tottenham’s 5-0 thumping of Bournemouth at Wembley on Boxing Day.

Son has scored four goals in the last week, having also netted twice in the club’s 6-2 bludgeoning of Everton at Goodison Park, but Spurs are bracing themselves to lose the winger to international duty once again when he joins the South Korean team for the Asian Cup in the new year.

Son already missed a run of games at the start of the season when South Korea won the Asian Games meaning that the midfielder could avoid carrying out the country’s compulsory military service.

The tiredness of playing two successive international tournaments - having also played at the World Cup in Russia - saw Son make a slow start to the season, however, he has since become Spurs’ most prolific player and Pochettino was quick to laud the 26-year-old’s stunning spell of form after the win on Wednesday.

“Two words,” Pochettino said. “Un-believable. What can I say, Sonny is doing a fantastic job for the team.

“After November he had a rest and was here trying to recover his best and I think he is doing fantastic.

“He started his fantastic run against Chelsea and until today he is doing a fantastic job for the team.

“I hope he can keep that level but you know in a few weeks he is going to be away from Tottenham because he needs to go with his national team to Dubai to play the Asian Cup.”

Pochettino also reserved praise for 21-year-old right-back Kyle Walker-Peters who assisted three of Spurs’ five goals on Wednesday.

Kyle Walker-Peters assisted three of Spurs’ five goals against Bournemouth (Reuters)

Walker-Peters made a costly error in Spurs’ heroic draw with Barcelona at the Camp Nou but the Tottenham manager reiterated that he never doubted the quality of the academy graduate.

“It’s no surprise to me,” Pochettino said. “I told you after the match in Barcelona that we really believe in him and he has amazing quality and only needs time to mature and show his quality.

“I’m so pleased, so happy because I think his quality is going to help the team this season and for the future he’s going to be a very important player for Tottenham.”