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Reuters
Reuters
Sport
Simon Evans

Son strikes again as Spurs beat Burnley to move fifth

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - October 26, 2020 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates scoring their first goal Pool via REUTERS/Lindsey Parnaby

Son Heung-min's prolific start to the season continued with his 76th minute header giving Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win at winless Burnley in the Premier League on Monday and moving Jose Mourinho's side up to fifth.

The South Korean was left unmarked at the back post to nod home his eighth league goal of the season after Harry Kane had flicked on an Erik Lamela corner to give Mourinho's side a third win in six games.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - October 26, 2020 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates scoring their first goal Pool via REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

Kane had saved Spurs minutes earlier with a fine piece of defending as he cleared a goal-bound James Tarkowski header off the line.

Although Spurs always looked more comfortable on the ball it was Sean Dyche's side, who have just a point from their opening five games, who had come the closest.

Ashley Barnes had a 20th minute drive ruled out for offside and then Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris got down well to stop a low drive from Ashley Westwood.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - October 26, 2020 Tottenham Hotspur's Tanguy Ndombele in action with Burnley's Dwight McNeil and Josh Brownhill Pool via REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff account representative for further details.

Son is now the top scorer in the Premier League and Kane is becoming a leading creator with the assist his eighth of the campaign so far.

Mourinho's approach of asking Kane to play in a deeper role, often operating just behind Son and Lucas Moura, has produced the most potent attack in the league with 16 goals in six games.

"It is great, we need everyone to be scoring and assisting at the top end of the pitch. Me and Sonny have had a nice little partnership going recently and hopefully it continues," said Kane.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - October 26, 2020 Tottenham Hotspur's Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier celebrate after the match as Burnley's Chris Wood looks dejected Pool via REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

"Even today it was not an amazing assist but it fell well for Sonny and 1-0 away to Burnley is a fantastic result," he added.

Kane said the win, at a venue where they failed to win in the past two seasons, was a sign of real progress for Tottenham.

"It was a massive game today, it is not an easy place to come. It is going to be a tough game, a big battle and these are the games you need three points if you are going to be up there at the end of the season. Massive fight from the lads," he said.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - October 26, 2020 Burnley's Ashley Barnes scores a disallowed goal Pool via REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

Burnley look set for a long season but Dyche saw some encouraging signs in their display.

"It was a very good performance, very thorough performance. There has to be belief in what we are doing and the last two games in particularly we have gone back to being what we can be like. We got done a little bit by a soft goal tonight but we quelled a lot of good attacks tonight," he said.

"Tough start to the season in all different ways. I thought the last two games it is beginning to show things coming back together. We have to keep that going."

(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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