The Japan Times - Spurs sink Slavia Prague to boost last-16 bid in front of Son

As South Korea forward Son watched from the stands, Thomas Frank's side eased to a valuable victory in north London thanks to David Zima's first-half own goal and penalties from Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons after the interval.

Buoyed by Saturday's much-needed home victory over Brentford in the Premier League, Tottenham made it two successive wins in front of their own fans to ease the pressure on Frank after a rocky spell.

Tottenham are up to ninth place in the league phase ahead of their final matches against Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt in January, with the top eight automatically reaching the last 16 and teams from ninth to 24th going into the play-offs.

It was an emotional night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Son returned to say an official goodbye after his summer move to Los Angeles FC.

Son scored 173 goals in 454 games for Tottenham and captained the club to the Europa League victory against Manchester United last season to end their 17-year trophy drought.

Just hours after his mural was unveiled on the Tottenham High Road earlier in the day, the 33-year-old addressed the fans who idolised him before kick-off and was presented with a momento during an emotional on-pitch ceremony.

Son was still being serenaded by Tottenham supporters when their side nearly went ahead after 36 seconds.

Wilson Odobert raced past David Doudera and picked out Richarlison, but his first-time shot was deflected over by Slavia goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek.

Slavia had failed to score in four of their previous five matches but Lukas Provod went close with a fierce half-volley.

Tottenham suffered a blow when centre-back Micky van de Ven was booked for dissent, ruling him out of next month's crucial clash with Dortmund.

But Frank's men took the lead after 26 minutes when Pedro Porro's corner was flicked on by Cristian Romero and Zima inadvertently headed into his own net for Tottenham's 100th goal in the Champions League.

Tottenham doubled their lead in the 48th minute as Porro was felled by Youssoupha Sanyang's reckless foul.

Richarlison, who missed a spot-kick against Copenhagen earlier this season, looked set to take it until Tottenham captain Romero stepped in and Kudus instead tucked away for his third goal for the club.

Frank introduced Mathys Tel after the club decided this week to add the forward to their Champions League squad in place of the injured Dominic Solanke.

Tel's first involvement was to test Stanek, who did even better to save the follow-up form Pape Sarr.

The talented Simons has the potential to fill the void left by Son and the Dutch forward wrapped up the points in the 79th minute when he scored from the spot after being fouled by Igoh Ogbu.

M.Fujitav--JT