Despite finishing last season as the Premier League joint top-scorer, sharing the 2021/22 Golden Boot with Mohamed Salah, and despite being one of the deadliest attackers in the English top-flight, Son Heung-Min has endured a rough start to this campaign.
The South Korean sensation has featured eight times for the north London giants both domestically and in the UEFA Champions League, but the 30-year-old is yet to find the back of the net, sparking a debate regarding his spot in the lineup.
Given that Spurs spent heavily to bring Richarlison from Everton to the English capital, some have begun wondering whether it is time to drop Son in favor of the Brazilian instead of rotating Dejan Kulusevski in and out of the starting eleven, as Antonio Conte has done this campaign.
This was particularly vivid for all to see in the 2-0 defeat to Sporting CP in Europe on Tuesday, with the Selecao and Swedish aces being the only source of inspiration upfront in what was a lackluster display from the London giants. Ahead of the club's return to action in the Premier League, Conte touched upon this subject and made an honest admission about his Asian star.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's clash with Leicester, Antonio admitted that Son could be dropped for the weekend but the gaffer reiterated the importance of the former Bayer Leverkusen attacker to his side as they aim to end their wait for silverware.
"Sonny, for sure, he is not happy because he's not scoring," the Spurs boss stated, as per the Daily Mail.
"It's normal and I like that he's a bit angry for this situation, because it means that he wants to try to change it. We are talking about Sonny and he's a really important player for us.
"For sure it can happen that in some games he can't play from the start, like Harry (Kane) also.
"But only to protect him, to give the possibility to rest, to take care of his energy and to bring us a win. For sure I will make rotation on Saturday."
Nonetheless, the midweek defeat to Sporting CP should not be of huge concern to the fans due to their impressive start to the season. Tottenham are one of only two teams yet to lose a Premier League game this season, with the other club being defending champions Manchester City.
Additionally, while bitter rivals Arsenal entered this round as the league leaders, Spurs are only a single point behind their neighbors and will hope to leapfrog them this weekend due to the Gunners' tricky trip to Brentford on Sunday.
