Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min has become the best goalscorer in the Premier League, with his goal-making ability at its peak.
Football statistics media 'Whoscored.com' explained through social media on the 31st (Korean time), "Son Heung-min recorded the highest big chance conversion rate (85.7%) in the Premier League this season."
‘Big chance conversion rate’ refers to the rate at which a decisive scoring opportunity is converted into a goal. The higher this number, the more it means that the player has good goal-scoring ability and does not miss opportunities.
As the 2023/24 season Premier League completed its 10th round, an analysis of players with outstanding goal-scoring ability revealed that Tottenham captain and top scorer Son Heung-min is the Premier League's best goalscorer to date. 스포츠토토
According to the Premier League's official website, Son Heung-min, who is starting all league games this season, has had a total of eight decisive scoring opportunities so far. He failed to convert into a goal in only one of his eight 'big chances', resulting in an incredible big chance conversion rate of 85.7% (7/8).
This was further highlighted through data on players competing with Son Heung-min to score. Currently, Son Heung-min is tied for second place in Premier League scoring with Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) with 8 goals. First place is the previous season's top scorer, 'monster striker' Erling Holland (Manchester City), who scored 11 goals.
To date, Holland has scored the most goals in the league, but has also missed many chances. Holland is currently ranked first among Premier League players with 11 big chance misses. Salah, who is tied for second place in scoring with Son Heung-min, missed two decisive chances.
Holland, who had a monster performance last season by scoring 52 goals, took second place in the 2023 Ballon d'Or vote behind 'World Cup winner' Lionel Messi (Inter Miami). Fans once again experienced Son Heung-min's greatness as he recorded better decision-making skills than Haaland, who is recognized as one of the world's best soccer players.
Son Heung-min, who had a poor year last season, scoring only 10 goals in the league, made a perfect comeback in the 2023/24 season. Son Heung-min enjoyed the new role he received from coach Anzhi Postekoglou and succeeded in returning to the Premier League's best striker.
After Son Heung-min's best partner and world-class striker Harry Kane transferred to Bayern Munich, coach Postekoglou placed Son Heung-min as the number 9 striker. Changing the position of Son Heung-min, who usually played as a left winger, to a front-line striker was coach Postekoglou's 'act of God'.
After changing his position to striker number 9, Son Heung-min scored a whopping 6 goals in 4 league games in the month of September. Since no player performed better than Son Heung-min in September, the Premier League selected Son Heung-min as the September Player of the Month.
Son Heung-min's momentum continued in October. Son Heung-min, who led the team to a 2-0 victory against Fulham in the 9th round of the league on the 24th by scoring 1 goal and 1 assist, immediately scored in the next game away to Crystal Palace in the 10th round, contributing to a 2-1 victory. Thanks to Son Heung-min's performance, Tottenham has risen to the top of the Premier League by going undefeated (8 wins, 2 draws) since the opening season.
As Son Heung-min, the Premier League's top scorer in the 2021/22 season, succeeded in making a comeback, there was great interest in England as well. Sky Sports in the UK said that the changes made under coach Postekoglu and Son Heung-min's existing strengths created synergy, leading to Son Heung-min's popularity. He explained that it led to Min’s resurrection.
Sky Sports said on the 20th, "Son Heung-min is now doing a lot of work inside the opponent's penalty box," and "Son Heung-min, whose touch rate in the box compared to the total number of ball touches so far was less than 10%, has reached 20% this season." “We’re getting closer,” he explained.
It is claimed that Son Heung-min, who had previously been good at making goals, has increased his chances of scoring as the number of touches inside the box has increased. In fact, all eight goals Son Heung-min scored this season were scored inside the box, and it was pointed out that former coach Antonio Conte used Son Heung-min closer to the midfielder as one of the reasons for Son Heung-min's poor performance last season.
In addition, Son Heung-min showed off his ability as a two-footed striker by scoring three of his eight goals with his left foot, and his shooting sense reached its peak as his effective shot conversion rate reached 70% (14/20). Attention is focused on how far Son Heung-min can rise this season, having successfully made a complete comeback by making full use of his strengths.