Mohamed Salah has been made to sweat over his hopes of claiming a third Premier League Golden Boot after Son Heung-min closed in on the Liverpool forward following his North London derby exploits. The South Korean netted his 21st league goal of the season in Tottenham's emphatic 3-0 triumph over bitter rivals Arsenal to move to within one of Salah atop the Premier League's goalscoring charts with just two games to go.
Son completed the scoring on Thursday night, adding to Harry Kane's double, to further punish the Gunners following Rob Holding's first-half sending off. The strike, which arrived just two minutes into the second period, saw Son bring his league tally to 21 goals in 33 appearances.
Not only did the goal put the gloss on Spurs' stunning success and pile the pressure on Arsenal in the race of Champions League football next season, but it will also have left Salah fearing he may now miss out on a third Premier League Golden Boot. The Egyptian claimed the honour in both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 season but was beaten to the accolade by Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane in the two years since his last individual success.
Should Salah win the award for a third time, he would match the feats of Kane and Premier League icon Alan Shearer in claiming the honour on three occasions - an achievement which has only been bettered by Thierry Henry, who scooped four during his Arsenal days. However, it appears Salah may now be pipped to the prize.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah will be worried about being pipped to the Premier League's Golden Boot (Image: GETTY)
The Reds forward will be well aware the goals have dried up somewhat in recent months while Son has hit a rich vein of form. Salah struck a staggering 16 goals in his first 20 Premier League appearances this season, however, since returning from the African Cup of Nations in early February, the 29-year-old has found it much harder to find the net.
In his last 14 Premier League matches, the Egyptian has managed a mere six strikes in comparison. Over that same period, Son has hit a whopping 13 in is last 16 Premier League outings.
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Son Heung-min closed to within one of Salah in the goalscoring charts after scoring against Arsenal (Image: GETTY)
With two matches of the Premier League season remaining, the race for the Golden Boot is set to go right down to the wire. And there's plenty of reason for Salah to fear that he could see the honour snatched away from him by Son at the final moment.
Liverpool head to Southampton next Tuesday in their penultimate game of the Premier League season before rounding off their campaign at home to Wolves the following Saturday - two fixtures which appear far more daunting than those facing Son. Tottenham's remaining matches see them welcome a relegation-threatened Burnley to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday before they complete the campaign with a trip to bottom-side Norwich, a team who have conceded a league-high 78 goals this season. Who will emerge victorious?
