Son Heung-min responded to being dropped by coming on and ending his goal drought in style with a sensational 13-minute hat-trick in Tottenham’s 6-2 hammering of sorry Leicester.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte left the South Korean on the bench following an eight-match run without finding the net but called for his forward in the 65th minute and he responded with a remarkable treble.
Tottenham already led 3-2 at this point after Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Rodrigo Bentancur efforts had cancelled out goals from Youri Tielemans and James Maddison for the visitors.
It was a second consecutive heavy loss for under-fire Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers to ensure they remain bottom of the Premier League and winless.
Dier had marked his England recall with a goal while Maddison responded to his latest international snub with another fine strike.
But it was Son who stole the headlines to ensure talk of his barren run became old news on a historic day where the two clubs paid tribute to the Queen.
Son was dropped following the midweek loss at Sporting Lisbon, the first time he had started a Premier League match on the bench when fully-fit since July 2020.
"It was a top performance and I was really frustrated as well," Son told Sky Sports. "The way I play I can do much better than I have been. I have been disappointed, the team has been doing really, really good but I was disappointed with my performance.
"It was a tough game at 3-2 and you never know in the Premier League. I wanted to do my best for the team. I will always try to do that when I play. I tried to help the team on the bench. I'm glad we won the game before the international break.
"My finishing has been poor this season. I've also been a little bit unlucky with an own goal, two offside goals and hitting the crossbar. I knew goals were coming and I wasn't worried. I've always had great supporters, teammates and coaches behind me."
It was full-throttle with three goals in 21 minutes, with Leicester taking a surprise early lead when Tielemans fired home from the penalty spot at the second attempt.
Davinson Sanchez gave away the spot-kick for a reckless lunge on James Justin but Hugo Lloris briefly spared his blushes with a superb save to deny Tielemans.
Lloris had moved off his line too quickly though and the Leicester midfielder made no mistake with his second penalty, again sending it towards his left and this time scoring in the seventh minute.
A leveller was immediately found by Spurs as Kane struck.
Dejan Kulusevski, back in the team at Son’s expense, produced a trademark excellent delivery to the back post where Kane headed home his 20th goal in 19 appearances against Leicester.
The league’s basement club were soon in the familiar position of trailing when Dier netted.
Ivan Perisic directed his corner to the near post where centre-back Dier flicked on to find the net for the second time this season.
Not long after Leicester were saved by referee Simon Hooper from conceding another set-piece goal when Wilfred Ndidi’s own goal was ruled out for Sanchez’ foul on goalkeeper Danny Ward.
The Foxes did improve and deservedly went in level at half-time when Maddison lobbed Lloris from Timothy Castagne’s cutback in the 41st minute.
After a breathless opening 45, the second period started in the same fashion with Bentancur making it 3-2 within 120 seconds.
The Uruguayan won back possession from Ndidi, ran at the Leicester back four and curled home to open his account for the club.
There was a brief lull following the fifth goal but the Foxes started to build up momentum again by the hour mark and Lloris made a pivotal one-handed save to thwart Patson Daka.
Conte had seen enough and brought on Emerson Royal, Cristian Romero and Son.
The latter, with a point to prove, duly did that with 17 minutes left to end his drought in spectacular fashion.
Bentancur passed into Son’s path and he ran at the Leicester defence before he curled home from 22-yards.
Son’s celebration hinted at his frustration at starting on the bench, but he was not done there.
A stunning second followed on his left foot, after Kane’s pass, before he netted a third.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg sent Son clear and he fired past Ward again but initially saw the offside flag raised. VAR ruled he was on to ensure the South Korean left the pitch with the matchball.
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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10.
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South Korea
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More coverage from the Future Forum
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key features of new policy
Pupils to learn coding and other vocational skills from Grade 6
Exams to test critical thinking and application of knowledge
A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis for Holistic Development) will form the standard for schools
Schools to implement online system to encouraging transparency and accountability
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
PRO BASH
Thursday’s fixtures
6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors
10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters
Teams
Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.
Squad rules
All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.
Tournament rules
The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.
