Tottenham to have fierce showdown with Chelsea on Monday

Son Heung-min, who is taking overdue rest amid controversy over his allegedly excessive playing, is gearing up to participate in a big match. The 27-year-old will play in the 18th round match of the 2019-2020 English Premier League against Chelsea, which will take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Monday.

The match is a game of the two archrival teams based in London, and a game that will enable one of them to join the league of top four teams, the last one of the four berths for advancing the UEFA Champions League in the next season. If Tottenham, which is currently ranked 5th (seven wins, five draws, five losses, winning points of 26), wins the match, it will tie in overall winning points (nine wins, two draws, and six losses, and winning point of 29) with the latter, but it will come to lead in the number of goals, thus switching the rankings. Tottenham, which once fell to as low as 14th place overall, is embracing a wonderful opportunity to join the league of “Top 4” teams. Chelsea is the team for which Tottenham’s incumbent coach Jose Mourinho previously served as chief coach.

Starting with the match against Chelsea, Tottenham will embark on the notorious schedule of “Boxing Day.” It is a period during which its players have an excessive number of EPL matches to play around the Christmas holiday and often get completely exhausted. The team has matches against Brighton on December 26, Norwich City on December 29, and South Hampton on January 2.


Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com