Son Heung-min responded to his abandonment by coming on and ending his goal drought in style with a sensational hat-trick in Tottenham’s 6-2 hammering of desolate Leicester.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte left the South Korean on the bench after an eight-match run without finding the net, but called on his striker in the 65th minute and he responded with a remarkable hat-trick.
Tottenham were already leading 3-2 at this stage after efforts from Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Rodrigo Bentancur canceled out goals from Youri Tielemans and James Maddison for the visitors.
It was a second heavy defeat in a row for under-fire Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers to ensure they remain bottom of the Premier League and winless.
Dier had scored his recall to England with a goal while Maddison responded to his final international snub with another fine strike.
But it was Son who grabbed the headlines to ensure talk of her barren run became old news on a historic day when both clubs paid tribute to the Queen.
Son was dropped after the midweek defeat at Sporting Lisbon, the first time he had started a Premier League game on the bench despite being fully fit since July 2020.
The Queen was recalled before kick-off with wreaths laid by both clubs and a minute’s silence, which was momentarily marred by shouting between a handful of fans around the stadium.
Once the game started it was full throttle in N17 with three goals in 21 minutes.
Leicester took a surprise lead when Tielemans fired home from the penalty spot on the second attempt.
Davinson Sanchez kicked in for a careless lunge over James Justin but Hugo Lloris briefly spared his blushes with a superb save to deny Tielemans.
Lloris had left his line too quickly, however, and the Leicester midfielder made no mistake with his second penalty, sending it to his left again and this time scoring in the seventh minute.
A leveler was immediately found by Spurs as Kane struck.
Dejan Kulusevski, back in the squad at Son’s expense, produced an excellent delivery to the back post where Kane scored his 20th goal in 19 appearances against Leicester.
The league basement club quickly found themselves in the familiar position of hanging out when Dier scored.
Ivan Perisic headed his corner towards the near post where centre-back Dier kicked to find the net for the second time this season.
Shortly after Leicester were saved by referee Simon Hooper from conceding another goal from a set-piece when Wilfred Ndidi’s goal was ruled out for Sanchez’s foul on goalkeeper Danny Ward.
The Foxes improved and deservedly went level at half-time when Maddison lobbed Lloris from Timothy Castagne’s cut in the 41st minute.
It was the perfect response to another snub from England boss Gareth Southgate, but he should have grabbed a second in stoppage time only for Lloris to make a fine save from close range with his feet.
After a breathless opening 45, the second period started in a similar fashion with Bentancur making it 3-2 in 120 seconds.
The Uruguayan regained possession of Ndidi, raced into the back of Leicester and retreated home to open his account for the club.
There was a brief lull after the fifth goal, but the Foxes started to build momentum again on the hour mark and Lloris made a crucial one-handed save to thwart Patson Daka.
Conte had seen enough and brought in Emerson Royal, Cristian Romero and Son.
The latter, with a point to prove, duly did it 17 minutes from the end to end his drought in spectacular fashion.
Bentancur passed Son’s path and he raced to the Leicester defense before coming home from 22 yards.
Son’s celebration hinted at his frustration at starting on the bench, but he didn’t end there.
A superb second followed on his left foot, after Kane’s pass, before he scored a third.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg sent Son clair and he fired past Ward again but first saw the offside flag raised. VAR decided they were close to making sure the South Korean left the pitch with the match ball.
