Tottenham Hotspur bounce back with victory over Bournemouth

Son Heung-min grabbed his 12th goal of the season to help Tottenham to an entertaining 3-1 home victory over Bournemouth.

It earned Spurs a fourth win in five Premier League matches, but this was far from comfortable against Andoni Iraola's in-form side.

Pape Sarr opened the scoring for Tottenham in the ninth minute, but left the pitch in tears with an injury to put his Africa Cup of Nations participation in doubt and Ange Postecoglou’s men had to wait until the 71st minute for a second.

Son doubled the hosts’ advantage ahead of Asian Cup duty with South Korea next month and Richarlison scored his fifth goal in as many matches before Alex Scott hit a late consolation for the Cherries.

This result coupled with Arsenal’s loss at Fulham means fifth-placed Tottenham are only a point behind their rivals going into 2024.

Spurs were eager to respond after being blown away by Brighton on Thursday and received a timely injury boost with Rodrigo Bentancur fit enough to start.

It was a month ahead of schedule and much-needed for Spurs boss Postecoglou.

While all eyes were on how Son would sign off, it was Senegal midfielder Sarr who grabbed the opener with his second goal for Tottenham.

Bentancur nipped in quickly in midfield before Giovani Lo Celso beat Lewis Cook, which opened up space for Sarr and he rifled into the bottom corner from 18 yards.

It was a great start for the hosts, but they were intent on trying to walk in a second goal until makeshift centre-back Emerson Royal tried his luck and had a piledriver parried away by Neto.

Neto was called into action again midway through the half when Richarlison sent Son away, the Tottenham captain seeing his low effort saved.

Bournemouth, chasing a seventh win in eight matches, started to gain