Conte’s decision on Son proves to be a masterstroke

London — Tottenham manager Antonio Conte’s decision to start Sunday’s match against Leicester with top striker Son Heung-min on the bench proved to be an inspired move by the Spurs’ boss.

It took Son just 14 minutes to score a superb hat-trick after coming on to notch his first goals of the season.

Conte said his decision hammered home the notion that every Spurs player will have to keep working for their position.

At the same time Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard was more than happy with his side’s “ugly” win over Southampton.  “The pretty stuff can come later,” said Gerrard.

These and other talking points from the Premier League weekend:

Conte thinking big at Tottenham: Conte believes the fact he could leave Son on the bench for the first 59 minutes against Leicester City shows his squad is closer to winning silverware.

Son, the joint-highest scorer in the Premier League last season with 23 goals, was left out of the starting line-up after failing to register in his first eight games this season.

He came on to devastating effect against Leicester, bagging a sublime hat-trick in 13 minutes to crown a 6-2 win that left Tottenham joint top for 24 hours.

Conte said dropping the popular Son was a tough decision but showed that the days of anyone being a guaranteed starter at Spurs are over.

“I want to bring this team to think with a superior level, not to stay in the middle,” Conte said. “Not to think I will stay at Tottenham because I will play every game.”

Gerrard embraces winning ugly with Villa: Aston Villa secured their second win of the season in an utterly forgettable clash with Southampton, but Gerrard was making no apologies for winning ugly.

Despite a draw with Manchester City, Villa have struggled to live up to expectations so far this season, but their back-to-basics approach against Southampton gave them three points that earned manager Gerrard and his club breathing space.

“We’ve played better and lost — sometimes in football you’ve got to do the ugly work,” Gerrard said, promising that the “pretty stuff” would come.

For now, Villa fans will be happy to see their side putting points on the board. The pretty stuff can wait.

Arsenal flying high but big tests to come:  Arsenal’s 3-0 win at Brentford was another confident display from the early season league leaders and the perfect response to their defeat at Manchester United in their last outing.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank said that with the quality the Gunners showed they have to be considered as genuine title contenders but it might be worth waiting another month before making such predictions.

Mikel Arteta’s side host Spurs in the North London derby in their first game after the international break and follow that up eight days later with the visit of last season’s runners-up Liverpool.

Those two tough home fixtures are then followed by a trip to Leeds United and if the new-look side are still top after that trio of games then Frank’s prediction will have a little more evidence to back it up.

Time for Grealish to become Mr Consistent:  If Jack Grealish is to earn a place in Gareth Southgate’s England side at the World Cup in Qatar he needs consistently to show the kind of potency he displayed in Manchester City’s 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Grealish was poor in the midweek Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund and it is fair to say he has yet to justify his £100m transfer fee since joining from Aston Villa at the start of last season.

But he responded to his critics with his first goal of the season after 55 seconds against Wolves and put in an excellent all-round display that showed much more of his quality.

Can he repeat the performance in the upcoming internationals for England? The player said after the game against Wolves he knows he should be scoring and assisting more. Talk is cheap, the time to deliver has come.

Howe long can Eddie wait for Saint-Maximin?  Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe endured a frustrating afternoon watching his side get completely shut down by Bournemouth's defence, and the return of winger Allan Saint-Maximin cannot come soon enough.

The erratic Frenchman was at the centre of all that was good about Newcastle’s attacking play so far this season, but he has missed three league games having picked up a hamstring injury in the 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers last month.

His speed and trickery were sorely lacking as Newcastle’s attack plodded against Bournemouth, enjoying lots of possession but doing little with it. Howe will be hoping that changes as soon as Saint-Maximin is fit again.

Reuters