LONDON: Son Heung-min proved there is life at Tottenham Hotspur without Harry Kane as his goal earned the north London club a surprise 1-0 win over champions Manchester City in an absorbing Premier League opener on Sunday.

All the talk beforehand was whether Tottenham’s talisman Kane, strongly linked with a move to City, would be involved.

The England skipper was left out of the squad, having only just returned to training, but it was his usual strike partner Son who gave Tottenham’s new manager Nuno Espirito Santo a perfect start to his reign as City showed why they are in need of a natural goal-scorer in a toothless display.

Kane has reportedly told Spurs he wants to leave, with City manager Pep Guardiola previously acknowledging that his club is very interested in buying him.

City dominated possession but struggled to break down a disciplined Spurs side, which was content to sit back and wait for opportunities to counter.

City’s record signing Jack Grealish showed early flashes of his abilities breaking forward in the opening minutes to draw a free kick just outside the area but missed his best chance to score when his shot from a tight angle was easily saved by Hugo Lloris in the 75th.

Riyad Mahrez had City’s best chance of the game in the 35th when he met a cross from Raheem Sterling but shot wide after failing to cleanly connect with the ball.

Son had already threatened on a couple of counters by the time he put Spurs ahead in the 55th. The South Korea international collected the ball down the right flank, drove at defender Nathan Ake and then cut inside to bend a low shot inside the far post.

Steven Bergwijn had a great chance to double the lead on another counterattack just before the hour mark, but shot wide.

City have now lost their last three competitive games 1-0 after defeats in the Champions League final last season to Chelsea and Leicester in last weekend’s Community Shield.

Guardiola’s men should only get stronger with the return of many internationals and possibly Kane.

However, they have already ceded ground to Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, who all displayed their title credentials with convincing wins on Saturday.

SIX-GOAL THRILLER

Earlier on Sunday, West Ham United forward Michail Antonio missed a penalty before scoring with a thundering shot as the Londoners came from behind to outclass Newcastle United 4-2 in a in a crowd-pleasing game in front of a full St James Park.

Antonio collected Said Benrahma’s neat pass and blasted one past Freddie Woodman to make it 4-2, shortly after the debutant goalkeeper palmed away the forward’s poor spot kick only for Tomas Soucek to pounce on the rebound to put West Ham ahead.

Antonio’s strike made him West Ham’s joint-top scorer in the Premier League alongside Italian Paolo Di Canio on 47 goals and he nearly added to his tally only to be denied by the post. Benrahma had earlier made it 2-2 with a header to put West Ham on course for a victory which seemed unlikely after they had conceded in the fifth minute to Callum Wilson.

Roared on by the Magpies’ first capacity home crowd for 17 months, Newcastle started brightly as Callum Wilson headed home Allan Saint-Maximin’s teasing delivery.

An intended cross by Aaron Cresswell crept in to quickly get West Ham level before Jacob Murphy’s header restored Newcastle’s lead at half-time.

But Murphy went from hero to villain later in the game as he fouled Pablo Fornals to concede the penalty that led to West Ham’s revival.

It made for a promising start for David Moyes’ West Ham, who finished a surprising sixth last season.

“It was a really good game, if you were a neutral you would have said it was a good game of football, plenty of action at both ends,” Moyes said. “I thought we had good control of the game at different times, we kept the ball well, at times we had to suffer a bit when we didn’t have the ball.”

VAN DIJK MAKES WINNING RETURN

In Saturday’s late match, Liverpool — with key defender Virgil van Dijk back after a nine-month absence — eased to a 3-0 win at promoted Norwich City.

Mohamed Salah set up two goals before scoring himself — the fifth straight season he has netted in the opening round.

Diogo Jota and the player who replaced him in the 61st minute, Roberto Firmino, scored from passes from Salah before the latter curled a shot high into the net for a record-breaking strike.

Van Dijk, whose ACL injury was a big factor in Liverpool’s mediocre defence of their title last season, had a comfortable return as his team brushed Norwich aside.

“It’s amazing if I’m honest,” said Van Dijk on his return. “I need games; the manager knows it, I know it, but it was a good start today and hopefully I’m ready for next week.”

Published in Dawn, August 16h, 2021