Tottenham Hotspur skipper Son Heung-min will endeavour to end a unique and unwanted Premier League record in Sunday's clash with Aston Villa in North London.
The 32-year-old is expected to make his comeback from a thigh injury against Unai Emery's side, as Ange Postecoglou revealed on Friday that he had been back in training throughout the week.
Son will likely come straight back into the final third for Timo Werner, who suffered his own knock in the 2-1 EFL Cup last-16 win over Manchester City and is more of a doubt for the visit of Villa.
Son has made a habit of making a nuisance of himself against Villa, scoring seven goals and providing three assists in his nine previous appearances against the Lions in all tournaments.
Six of those strikes have come in the Premier League, but all of those efforts have come at Villa Park, and no player has ever scored more against a single opponent in the competition without scoring once at home.
Son enduring miserable home streak against Villa
© Imago
From his four previous Premier League home games against the West Midlands side, Son has only ever registered one assist, setting up a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg strike in a 2-1 win in the 2021-22 season.
The former Bayer Leverkusen man has been on the losing side on each of his other three top-flight home appearances against Villa, though, failing to directly contribute to a goal on each occasion.
However, Son does have one home goal against Aston Villa to his name, making the net bulge in a 2016-17 FA Cup third-round showdown at White Hart Lane, which the Lilywhites won 2-0.
The 32-year-old's showings so far in 2024-25 suggest that he could end that unique streak, as all five of his Premier League goal contributions this season (three goals, two assists) have come at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Son bagged two goals in August's 4-0 success over Everton before laying on a pair of assists in September's 3-1 triumph over Brentford, while also netting once in the 4-1 thrashing of West Ham United in October.
Tottenham bidding to avoid unwanted milestone in Villa clash
© Imago
Son watched on helplessly as Tottenham slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend, though, and that loss left them one reverse away from an unwanted Premier League milestone.
Should Postecoglou's team fall to another defeat to Villa on Sunday, it will be their 400th loss in the Premier League, a tally that only five other clubs have previously hit.
Everton currently top the loss rankings with 453 defeats, while West Ham United (447), Aston Villa (412), Newcastle United (410) and Southampton (404) are the only clubs to have suffered more losses than Spurs' 399.
As well as Son's unique record and Tottenham's possible milestone, Villa will be bidding to equal a 100-year streak when they head to North London on Sunday, keen to leapfrog Arsenal and Nottingham Forest into third place in the Premier League table.
Meanwhile, results on Saturday have left Spurs 10th in the rankings, and the Lilywhites cannot finish the weekend any higher than seventh.
Ben Knapton
