Will Spurs now see true face of man behind the mask?

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min (right) celebrates scoring their side's fourth goal of the game by removing and throwing their protective face mask during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park, London. Picture Zac Goodwin/PA Wire. 

THE sight of Son Heung-min throwing off his face mask in anger early in the New Year’s Day defeat to Aston Villa summed up the Tottenham’s forward’s frustrations this season.

Three days later, the same gesture reflected a very different mood could well signify a turnaround in the South Korea striker’s fortunes.

This time Son hurled the mask in celebration after scoring his first goal since October and capping an outstanding second half display and ultimately convincing win for Antonio Conte’s side.

It will take much more to confirm Spurs are over their recent dip and Son has rediscovered his scoring touch. It was, however, a step in the right direction.

While Conte’s will he-won’t he contract saga has provided a familiar narrative at the north London club, the inquests into Son’s dramatic loss of form has caught almost everyone by surprise.

The two issues are certainly not unconnected. Son’s routinely forward partnership with Harry Kane has often helped paper over the cracks as a succession of managers have attempted to rediscover the level of performance that made them Premier League title contenders and Champions League finalists in 2019.

This season, though, the pairing has failed to click to the same effect with Son’s decline since winning last season’s Golden Boot winner a cause for alarm.

Against that backdrop then, it was particularly satisfying for Conte that Son’s excellent 73rd minute finish came after he had been sent clear by Kane. The uncertainty in front of goal evident in recent months - and earlier in this game - disappeared. The task now will be to maintain that level of belief.

The South Korea international has looked a shadow of the player who matched Mohamed Salah’s return of 23 league goals and arrived at Selhurst Park with only three league goals to his name, all of which came in a 31-minute appearance from the bench after he had been dropped for the meeting with Leicester City in September.

His only other scoring appearance came when he scored twice in the Champions League victory over Eintracht Frankfurt making this an alarming barren spell by the standards of any forward even allowing for Son’s injury concerns this season.

The World Cup offered little respite and since returning from Qatar, the 30-year-old has laboured in efforts to rediscover his scoring touch.

Injuries to Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Moura means their has been no respite for Son as he attempts to play himself back into form.

Nor has he been helped by the fact Tottenham appear to be forever playing catch-up having developed the alarming habit of conceding first in their previous ten games before finally ending that streak last night. A team in desperate need of an equaliser is no place for a striker lacking confidence and whose every miss will be closely scrutinised.

The opening 45 minutes at Selhurst Park suggested an upturn in form certainly wasn’t imminent although Son certainly wasn’t alone in his struggles to make an impact on the game.

While Tottenham dominated possession in the opening stages of the game, there was a distinct lack of fluency and urgency to their attacking play. Once again it seemed as though Son and his team-mates were incapable of hitting top gear without being poked into action.

With Crystal Palace sitting deep and allowing Spurs to play in front of them, the striker was reduced to being little more than a link man in a series of ineffectual passing moves that did nothing to dispel the sense of lethargy surrounding Conte’s side.

And Ivan Perisic’s desire to press forward at every opportunity limited the space available for Son to drift out wide in search of space.

The contrast to Palace’s attacking efforts later in the half was stark. When they did finally find their feet, Patrick Vieira’s side moved forward with a pace and directness that was lacking in Spurs’s earlier efforts, particularly when Wilf Zaha drove forward on the left.

Yet if the half–time whistle brought a familiar sense of frustration for Conte and his players, the start of the second period suggested the manager’s half-time message had got through.

Perennial saviour Kane weighed in with two quick goals and suddenly the pressure surrounding the visitors was lifted.

Son had played only a peripheral role in both goals with Ivan Perisic and Bryan Gil providing the assists for Kane’s goals. But a more dynamic run on the hour from the forward showed signs of promise although he should have done better after being sent clear by Kane only to send his shot too close to keeper Vicente Guaita.

However, that proved to be a sighter and he made no mistake with his second opportunity.

The coming weeks will tell if this is a turning point in the season for Son and the rest of Conte’s side. The relief at Selhurst Park, though, was tangible.