Antonio Conte jokes about why he really took Son Heung-min off vs Arsenal and made him unhappy

Antonio Conte has jokingly explained his reason for the substitution of Son Heung-min against Arsenal, a decision which left the Tottenham star an unhappy man.

Son was heavily involved in the north London derby victory on Thursday night, fouled numerous times by Gunners defender Rob Holding which ultimately led to his red card for two bookings. The South Korean star had earned Spurs a penalty after a push by Cedric Soares, then put in the corner that led to Harry Kane scoring his second goal before Son put the finishing touch on the performance with a goal of his own just two minutes into the second half.

With 18 minutes to go of the match, Conte made a double change, bringing Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn on for Dejan Kulusevski and Son with Sunday's lunchtime kick-off against Burnley in mind. The latter was not impressed and could be seen complaining about the decision while leaving the pitch and then on the bench. It was only after a big hug and chat from Conte after the final whistle that Son's trademark smile returned.

Conte's plea to Spurs fans, his Arteta criticism and what he said to Ben Davies at half-time

Conte joked to that he had only been keeping Son on his toes, saying: "It was a strategy! A strategy because in this way I push him on Sunday to try to score and not be relaxed and stay top scorer because now he has one goal less than [Mohamed] Salah. No, I'm joking. I wanted to give him and Deki a bit of rest because on Sunday it will be a sporting war. So to rest players for 20 to 25 minutes was important for us."

Spurs will be without key defender Cristian Romero for the game against Burnley and the trip to Norwich next week, but Conte was keen to praise the performance of Davinson Sanchez, who stepped