Park Ji-sung and Ki Sung-yong didn't do it '10 goals in a season'

Hwang Hee-chan scored two goals in an away match at Brentford in the 19th round of the 2023/24 Premier League held at the G-Tech Community Stadium in London, England on the 28th to lead the 4-1 victory. On the day, Hwang Hee-chan started as a front-line one-top along with Matheus Cunha and Pablo Sarabia in the second line.

Hwang Hee-chan scored an additional goal in the 14th minute of the first half when he was leading 1-0. It was a moment when the concentration shone. It was a little short for Brentford's defense to give a back pass to the goalkeeper. Hwang Hee-chan, who grasped this, quickly tried to press and cut it before the goalkeeper caught the ball. Hwang Hee-chan, who beat the goalkeeper, comfortably pushed it into the empty net to make it 2-0. It was Hwang Hee-chan's ninth goal in the league this season.

Hwang Hee-chan's second goal came in the 28th minute of the first half. Brentford scored a chasing goal to seal the victory with the score 2-1. After catching a long ball from the back in the 28th minute of the first half, Hwang Hee-chan calmly folded it with his right foot and kicked it with his right foot in line with the goalkeeper's movement. He scored a double-digit score for the first time since entering the free league with his 10th goal in the league.

Except for Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Hwang Hee-chan is the first Korean player to score more than 10 goals in a single season in the Premier League. Even Park Ji-sung (Manchester United, Queens Park Rangers), Seol Ki-hyun (Reading, Fulham), and Ki Sung-yueng (Swansea City, Sunderland, Newcastle), who played in the Premier League in the past, failed to make it.

Park Ji-sung, who played for Manchester United and QPR in the past, played in the Premier League from 2005 to 2013, but has never scored more than 10 goals in the league. The most goals scored in a single season were five goals set by Manchester United in 2006/07, and 2010/11.

Seol also played for Wolverhampton before moving to Reading in 2006, but only scored four goals in the league in the first season of his move. Since then, he moved to Fulham, but ended up with only one goal in the league for two seasons as he was lagging behind in the competition to become a starting member.

Ki Sung-yueng, dubbed "middle-riker," also had the most goals scored by any player. Ki, who transferred to Swansea after playing for Celtic in the prestigious Scottish league, scored eight goals in the 2014/15 season, awakening his instinct to score goals. Since then, Ki had played in the Premier League until 2020, but had never scored more than five goals. Other aggressive players including Park Chu-young, Lee Chung-yong and Ji Dong-won played in the Premier League, but failed to score more than 10 goals in total.

Since joining Tottenham in 2015, Son has scored 14 goals in the 2016/17 season, becoming the first Korean to score double-digit goals in the Premier League. Son has scored more than 10 goals in a single season for eight consecutive seasons including this one.

Following Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan surpassed the 10-goal mark in a single season. Hwang Hee-chan was impressed by manager Gary O'Neill when he scored his first goal of the season as a substitute in the match against Brighton and Hove Albion in the second round. In the away match at Crystal Palace in the fourth round, he also scored as a substitute and became a starting member under O'Neill.

He started 15 consecutive games from Liverpool in the fifth round to Brentford, and played 10 consecutive full-time games from Bournemouth in the ninth round to Chelsea in the last round.

Hwang Hee-chan scored his third goal in the league against Liverpool. He remained silent in the game against Luton Town in the sixth round, but showed off his strong determination by scoring goals for defending champions Manchester City and Aston Villa.

In particular, he made his name known to the world in the match against Manchester City. Before the match, Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, called Hwang Hee-chan the "Korean Guy," which scored a goal in the main match to lead Wolverhampton to a 2-1 victory. Not only Guardiola but also countless fans who watched the match clearly had their names inscribed on his name.

Against Newcastle United, Hwang scored his sixth goal in the league as a finishing touch following a fantastic shot painting. Hwang Hee-chan, who added another goal in the match against Fulham in November, scored his eighth goal in the league in a match against Burnley earlier this month, just shy of scoring his first double-digit goal since entering the Premier League. He had no goal for the next three games, but scored multiple goals against Brentford on the day, finally scoring double-digit goals.

Earlier, O'Neill said he could also score 15 to 20 goals in this season before renewing his contract with Hwang Hee-chan. According to the BBC, O'Neill said, "Hwang Hee-chan's performance in this season has greatly helped the team develop. I hope he continues to play well in the future," adding, "I am happy to sign a contract with him. Since I came here, he has worked hard and given everything to me, the coaching staff and my teammates."

He also highly anticipated Hwang Hee-chan's performance for the rest of the season, saying, "If the performance continues as it has been and manages it as it has been so far, there is no reason not to score 15 to 20 goals in the season." Hwang Hee-chan is living up to expectations by scoring 11 goals including the League Cup as O'Neill wishes. 스포츠토토

"Hwang has scored 10 goals now. It's an incredible performance," O'Neill said at a press conference after the match against Brentford. "It's like a dream. All I do is always write Hwang Hee-chan's name on the starting list so that he can keep playing. When the goal was scored, I felt at ease because Hwang Hee-chan had fantastic quality. He shows these scenes in the training as well," O'Neill said in a generous round of applause for Hwang's performance.