Postecoglou: 'I think he was probably the best attacking player in the competition'

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 (Sarr 61, Johnson 90+6) 

BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 1 (Gross pen 17) 

IS ANGE POSTECOGLOU correct in his belief that Heung Min Son is the best attacking player in the Premier League?

Bare statistics suggest others deserve that accolade. Erling Haaland is the competition's leading scorer at the moment with 16 goals, having hit 36 goals last season, and Mohammed Salah is not far behind with 14 goals so far. Son had scored 12 goals before departing for the Asian Cup in Qatar on New Year's Day. The Egyptian can boast more assists in his Premier League career than the other two, though not as many as Kevin De Bruyne, recently restored to Manchester City's side after injury.

In terms of goal involvements, perhaps the best measure of an attacking player, De Bruyne (174) is one ahead of Son's total of 173, while Salah is well ahead with 220, though it should be remembered the Liverpool man has scored 24 penalties in the league. Son has only scored two from the spot.

And they all lag well behind Harry Kane, who racked up 263 goal involvements before leaving Spurs for Bayern Munich last summer. So the onus at Tottenham has been on Son to emerge from Kane's giant shadow and take over in terms of leading the team, wearing the captain's armband and also creating and scoring goals.

His latest involvement, setting up Brennan Johnson's winner deep into stoppage time on Saturday, was invaluable. Having returned from Qatar on Thursday after playing six games for South Korea in the desert heat over the previous fortnight, Son was held back by Postecoglou for an hour as Spurs struggled to get parity with a lively Brighton side who had opened the scoring with an early Pascal Gross penalty.

His introduction just after the