Antonio Conte jokes Son will remain on Tottenham bench after hat trick

Antonio Conte has joked he will leave Son Heung-min on the bench following the South Korean’s stars hat trick against Leicester. The match at White Hart Lane was looking tight until his arrival but three goals within 14 minutes meant Spurs ran out comfortable winners in a 6-2 victory. 

Conte raised eyebrows when the team sheets were revealed after he left fan favourite Son on the bench. The 30-year-old has started the season slightly off form but used his benching as motivation as he bagged a hat trick to seal the 6-2 victory over struggling Leicester. His first two goals were particularly impressive, banging two long-range efforts into the top corner. 

However, it appears his manager could be about to repeat the tactic again joking he will leave him on the bench if he continues to come on to score three. 

“I am really happy for Sonny today,” he told Sky Sports after the game. “You know what I think of the player. I said to him if you’re going to score three goals in 30 minutes ‘maybe we can repeat this experiment’, but I was joking.

“I’m lucky, I have a really good group of players, that are really good people. We have to start thinking in a different way if we are going to make the next step.”

The match in north London had been a tight affair with Leicester scoring twice and offering much to the game in an attacking sense. However, they left huge gaps defensively something Conte admitted he was looking to expliot. 

“I decided to bring Bissouma in and play with three midfielders and move Sonny nearer to Kane to exploit the spaces it was really good because it gave us more balance and we exploited the ability of Kane and Son.”

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