Golden Boot-chasing Heung-min Son has described Tottenham’s schedule as “madness” but admitted he was frustrated to be substituted in Thursday’s win over Arsenal.
Son’s 21st goal of the season moved him just one behind the League’s top scorer Mohamed Salah with two games to play, as Spurs thrashed Arsenal 3-0 to move within a point of their fourth-placed rivals.
Antonio Conte’s side have no time to savour their biggest ever derby win in the Premier League era, with Burnley the visitors in their final home game of the season, a 12noon kick off on Sunday.
“To be honest looking at the schedule, it is madness,” Son said. “We are playing Thursday night and Sunday with a really early kick-off. It is a really quick turnaround, we need to do everything to recover: good food, good sleep and get ready to go again.
“It would always be good to have a [later] kick-off [on Sunday], but if you win the early kick-off it is always good. It feels like you wake up and you go to play the game. Especially Thursday to Sunday is a really quick turnaround. But this is the schedule, we can’t change it and we need to be ready for every situation which we will do.
“I will try my best to sleep,” Son added. “But if I struggle what can I do? If I am struggling I still have to try my best to recover. For me sleep is one of the most important things to recover and I’ll do my best.”
Conte spared Son’s legs for the final 20 minutes against 10-man Arsenal and the South Korean looked disappointed as he left the pitch, perhaps realising he was losing a fine opportunity to add to his impressive goal-tally.
“I am always not happy at coming off because I want to be on the pitch because I love playing football and I want to help the team,” he said.
“I can understand afterwards but at the moment you are not angry but frustrated because you are passionate on the pitch. I can understand why because we have a really quick game on Sunday. I can’t promise I will score but I will do my best and I will do my best for the team and if I don’t score I will do my best.”
If Spurs beat the Clarets, they will leapfrog Arsenal and pile more pressure on their rivals, who face Newcastle at St. James’ Park on Monday night.
Son insists his quest for a first Golden Boot is “not important” and says he would happily not score again this season if Spurs can finish fourth and return to the Champions League.
“It would be nice but for us it is important for us to finish in the top four,” he said. “Against Arsenal, performance-wise it was fantastic and I am very proud for the lads and well deserved.
“Obviously it’s a good thing that you are racing for the Golden Boot, but I have said a few times that it is important to finish in the top four than anything else. So 100 percent I would be happy [if we qualify but I don’t score].”
Asked about Antonio Conte, Son said: “He has been fantastic, some of the players have already spoken about this. Before he arrived we couldn’t believe we could arrive in the Champions League spot. What he brought to the club was incredible, the passion, the energy, the positivity. Look, he has brought so many things. It is only 10 more days left, we have to give what we can, we have to squeeze all that we have.
“It has been really tough, especially in the Premier League because everyone is playing for the title and the top four and every game is really tough. When you qualify it is really tough but the way to qualify is really tough. The last two games we just want to make sure we qualify for the Champions League.”
