Son becomes first Asian player to score 50 Premier League goals

The 27-year-old needed just 151 appearances to reach the milestone for Tottenham as he found the net against Aston Villa on Sunday

star Son Heung-min became the first Asian player to score 50 goals in the Premier League after his first strike against .

The international netted in first-half stoppage time at Villa Park on Sunday to reach the milestone and give his side a 2-1 lead after Toby Alderweireld netted for both sides early in the game.

Bjorn Engels then levelled matters again with a goal for the home side just eight minutes into the second period, but Son popped up in stoppage with his second of the game to make it 3-2 and take his tally up to 51.

It is the fifth game in a row in all competitions in which Son has scored for Jose Mourinho's team and it also brought him up to half a century of goals in the English top-flight.

The 27-year-old needed just 151 appearances to reach that milestone.

50 - With his 8th league goal of the season, Son Heung-min has become the first Asian player to reach 50 Premier League goals. Representation. pic.twitter.com/XF4EHv4Mq6 — OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 16, 2020

Son, who has now scored nine times in the league this season and netted on 16 occasions in all competitions, has long been the most prolific Asian to have graced the Premier League. He has also made more assists in the division than anyone else from the continent.

Former star Park Ji-sung had been the most famous Asian in the league until Son's arrival from in 2015.

Park spent seven years at Old Trafford, scoring a total of 19 goals and laying on 21 assists in 154 Premier League matches. In that period he won four league titles and one crown with Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

Ex-Swansea and Newcastle man Ki Sung-yueng is the third most productive with 15 strikes and nine assists in 187 games, while forward Shinji Okazaki needed just 114 matches to score 14 times in the league for Leicester before he left to join Malaga last summer.

After the clash with Aston Villa, Tottenham are in action again on Wednesday when they host for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.