Tottenham 6-2 Leicester: Substitute Son Heung-min scores a HAT-TRICK in just 14 minutes

Dropping Heung-min Son is a bit like shooting Bambi. It shouldn’t really happen and when it does, it feels all wrong.

And yet Antonio Conte is like the cold-hearted hunter with a trophy in his sights. Son wasn’t cutting it and paid the price. And then the redemption: Son came on and in 13 minutes scored an extraordinary hat-trick with breath-taking strikes to ensure a game which was still in the balance was won decisively and, suddenly, all was well with the world.

Except that Conte was in no mood for regrets, explanations or fairy tales. This is how it is, he explained, at the new Spurs. Get used to it.

Son Heung-min came off the bench to score a sensational hat-trick as Tottenham won 6-2 against struggling Leicester

The forward completed his hat-trick with a composed finish that was originally ruled out for offside before a VAR check

Son’s first two goals were stunning strikes from outside of the box as he silenced anyone who has doubted him recently

He did add that he was pleased for Sonny but the overall message was devoid of sentimentality. ‘I want this team to think with a superior level’ he said. ‘Not to think in the middle, that at Tottenham I play every game. If you think like that, you won’t fight for something important. They have to understand this.

‘If you want to stay in a team with ambition, you have to accept this. I don’t care what happened in past. I have my own idea. My story speaks very clear in every situation, I worked in, we had a trophy so maybe my idea has to be credited. I go with my idea, my thoughts, my way. I don’t accept compromise. It has to be very clear: go for my way. I know that I’m going to do something important for the club.’

Clear enough? This isn’t intended to be a nearly team that comes close. Tottenham are genuinely thinking of winning actual trophies. And having someone like Son to bring off the bench might be a clear sign that they’re heading in that direction.

Still, if you wanted a team to play against to break your goal-scoring duck then Leicester City would probably be your first choice at present. When Son took the field on 59minutes with Tottenham 3-2 ahead, you suspected that his run of unfortunate form might soon be coming to a swift end.

Leicester, bottom of the table on a point, had already demonstrated the kind of defending up that would have given hope to your average Sunday League forward, let alone a player of Son’s quality. Sure enough, he would find them in generous mood.

So when Rodrigo Bentancur, excellent here, robbed them of possession and lofted an enticing ball into Son’s path on 74 minutes, you didn’t have to be a divine mystic to guess what was coming.

Son set off on that shuffling sprint he does as Jonny Evans and Wout Faes retreated in disarray. As he approached the penalty area, he sized up his options and picked the far right corner, sending his shot swerving, dipping. Poor Danny Ward really had no chance.

Youri Tielemans put Leicester 1-0 up as he scored his re-taken penalty after Hugo Lloris was off his line when he saved the first

Tottenham were level just two minutes later as Harry Kane headed in at the back post – his 20th career goal against Leicester

The Foxes’ woes from set-pieces continued as Eric Dier flicked his header from a corner past Danny Ward to put Spurs in front

But the struggling visitors were level again before half-time thanks to James Maddison’s perfectly executed first-time finish

The stadium almost took off, such was the roar of relief. Son just stood and took it all in for a second before being surrounded by team-mates. There was a reason he was so cool. He had, of course, only just started.

On 85 minutes, Harry Kane played him in and from outside the area he curled in his second in the opposite corner, another stunning strike. On 87minutes, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg played him in and Son strode forward and struck the ball into Ward with enough force to see it reach the net despite the goalkeeper’s touch.

The twist came as a flag was raised for offside. Cue boos. This wasn’t the script we required. Sure enough, the director wasn’t having that. VAR saw sense and the hat-trick stood. It had taken him 13 minutes to dismantle Leicester and remind the world of his class.

Leicester did play well in moments, not least in James Maddison’s lovely 42 check equaliser for 2-2, a sumptuous finish from Timothy Castagne’s cross.

Rodrigo Bentancur scored his first goal for Tottenham to put the hosts back in front just two minutes into the second half

Then the game-changing moment came as the out-of-form Son Heung-min replaced Richarlison just before the hour mark 

The South Korean had not scored in his last eight matches but showed his undoubted quality with an extraordinary treble

But to say Leicester are bad at defending set pieces is to fail utterly to convey their ineptitude. Better to say they seem completely incapable of defending set pieces.

Having taking the lead from a Youri Tielemans penalty on 6th minutes, after a calamitous series of Davinson Sanchez errors which had culminated in him launching himself at James Justin in the box, they conceded two minutes later at the next Tottenham corner.

It was a smart one-two between Dejan Kulusevski and Ivan Perisic which saw the Swede lift a curling cross to the back post where Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall allowed Harry Kane to get goal side of him and head in.

The next corner came on 22 minutes and this time, with Perisic providing the assist, and it was Justin and Patson Daka in a muddle as Eric Dier rose to flick a header home.

Before Maddison’s equaliser, another Kulusevski corner flew in directly but was disallowed due to a Sanchez challenge on Ward. At this point if like any set piece awarded to Spurs was the equivalent of a penalty.

The pressure continues to increase on Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers following the club’s sixth successive defeat

But for Son it was one of the most remarkable performances of his career as he took home the match ball after the game

And by then Leicester fans had taken to celebrating corners they actually managed to defend and not concede from. Brendan Rodgers says he can turn this around but spoke like a man who knows what is coming.

‘Whatever their decision is, I’ll always respect it,’ he said. ‘I feel in the team you watched, you can see the confidence in the team, the creativity in the team, the pressing in the team, it’s just cutting out the mistakes.

‘The owners will do what it is that they feel they need to do. I’m not daft I know football. The last six games doesn’t make great reading. But I’ve every confidence that the team can push on.’

But when irony is the only thing the fans have to cling to, times are indeed desperate.

Relive Sportsmail’s live blog for the Premier League clash between Tottenham and Leicester.