Chris Sutton has stated that Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min heads into the FIFA 2022 Qatar World Cup with South Korea in ‘patchy’ form, as he told BBC Sport.
The South Korean star hasn’t featured for Tottenham since suffering a facial injury at the start of the month during his side’s Champions League win against Marseille.
At one point, there was some worry that he might be ruled out of the World Cup altogether given the timing of his injury and the little time that was left until players headed to Qatar.
But the 30-year-old is now in the Middle East with his nation and they kick off their campaign against Uruguay on Tuesday, as Sutton thinks that contest will end in a 1-1 draw.
“This is an extremely open group and I changed my mind a couple of times about who would go through,” said Sutton.
“Uruguay’s ageing frontline of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani counts against them, but South Korea lack a cutting edge too despite being able to control games through their possession.
“We don’t know if Son Heung-min is able to start this game against Uruguay, but his form for Spurs was patchy this season even before he fractured his eye socket.”
CAN SON FIND HIS MAGIC?
Only three Premier League goals to Son’s name in Tottenham colours this season – and they all came against Leicester City from the bench.
Perhaps that’s what Antonio Conte needed to do a few more times because Son seems to have lost his magic in front of goal.
Those in north London will be hoping, regardless of what South Korea do at the World Cup, he can find that confidence again because it would make them very dangerous heading into the second half of the season.
The versatile forward hit a very high bar last season by winning the Golden Boot, so there was always going to be pressure on him in that regard.
For some, this World Cup break in between domestic football will harm them, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Son returns back to his best post-Christmas.
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