Today's back pages: Nice one Son, Walker's keeper capers

A round up of the sport headlines from UK newspapers on Thursday 7 November

Son Heung-min
Son Heung-min scored twice against Red Star Belgrade
(Image credit: Andrej Isakovic/AFP/Getty)

The back pages focus this morning on the exploits of Spurs striker Son Heung-min and Manchester City defender Kyle Walker in the Champions League.

Son prays for Gomes

Son scored twice for Tottenham as they beat Red Star Belgrade 4-0, three days after he was red carded and left the field in tears after his tackle on Everton’s Andre Gomes which broke his ankle.

There were concerns that the South Korean was not mentally ready to play again but he was handed a starting berth by Mauricio Pochettino.

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“After scoring his first goal, which was a well-worked team effort, Son went towards camera and said sorry down the lens, aimed at Gomes, and also appeared to pray for the injured Portuguese midfielder,” reports the Daily Mirror.

England's new No 1

Walker made headlines of a different sort when he was forced to don the goalkeeping gloves after Manchester City keeper Ederson was injured and his replacement Claudio Bravo sent off against Atalanta.

“Walker has been the subject of many chants — positive and negative — from the stands over the years but not until last night had he been hailed as ‘England’s No 1’ by supporters,” says The Times.

“That is the moniker that the 2,900 Manchester City fans gave Walker after he managed to keep a clean sheet during his nine-minute cameo in goal to save his team from defeat.”

'Strip Saracens of titles'

The day’s other big story concerns English rugby champions Saracens, who have been handed a 35-point deduction and £5.4m fine for breaching salary cap regulations. But there are now calls for the club to be stripped of their two most recent Premiership titles, while former England captain Chris Robshaw has accused them of “cheating”.

“We like to think our sport is cleaner than everyone else. It is not any more. It is not. We have to be realistic about that,” he told the Daily Mail.