Heung-Min Son hopes Richarlison and his fellow forwards can up their game and fill the void left when the Tottenham captain departs for the Asian Cup this week.
Son is Tottenham’s top scorer with 12 Premier League goals, and will be missing for up to five weeks as South Korea take part in the international tournament in Qatar, which finishes on February 10.
And with Spurs just one point outside the top four, they will need Richarlison, Brennan Johnson and Dejan Kulusevski to weigh in with more goals, just as Son used to up his game whenever Harry Kane was absent.
“In previous years, when Harry was here and missed games with injuries, I felt like I needed to step up. I hope our players have the same feeling, that they need to step up. In this kind of situation you grow as a player and a human being.”
Richarlison has scored five goals in five games since recovering from groin surgery and Son says:
“Richy is doing a fantastic job. I hope he is hungry for more goals, also Deki and Brennan. I hope everybody who is playing attacking positions can score as many goals as possible and bring us to a better position. They are my family and my teammates. I wish it more than anything else.
But Son is reluctant to talk about challenging for the Premier League title. “Everybody is very close in the title race but we don’t really want to talk about it because there are still 20 games to play and we’re still missing many important players.
“We’re going to focus on ourselves and give everything, game by game. We try not to focus on any other teams. We approach it looking for better football and better mentality and then we’ll see what happens at the end of the season.”
Ange Postecoglou’s arrival after the end of Antonio Conte’s reign has meant a turbulent year at Tottenham but Spurs are flying again, and Son added: “There has been a lot of change, 100 per cent, and everybody is taking a lot of responsibility.
“It is a big credit when compared to the last couple of years. The lads are working really hard, and we are not talking about where we are now or how many points we have, which is a good sign.
“We are focused and want to win every single game. We also have made some mistakes and you learn that you can’t win 38 games in the Premier League because it is so tough. So let’s focus on ourselves, not look at the table and just see what happens.”
