With a well-earned 2-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Newcastle United delivered their best performance of an already outstanding year and moved into the top four of the Premier League.
Newcastle took control after Tottenham had gotten off to a strong start thanks to goals from Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron in the first half, both of which were made possible by errors from Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
After 31 minutes, Wilson chipped in the game’s first goal into an open goal, and in the 40th, Almiron scored from a tight angle.
Early in the second half, Harry Kane’s 10th league goal of the year hinted third-placed Tottenham attempted to build a comeback, but their efforts were lacklustre as Newcastle held firm to earn the three points.
Eddie Howe’s team, who has suffered just one loss through their first 12 games, was loudly applauded by Newcastle’s supporters as they surged into the Champions League spots with 21 points.
With back-to-back losses, Tottenham’s greatest start to a top-flight season since the 1963–64 campaign has received a sobering reality check. With 23 points after 12 games, they remain third.
“It was a significant victory. We came here with the intention of being optimistic. Great performance from us. We earned the victory “Howe, who took over from Steve Bruce a year ago after a buyout supported by Saudi Arabia, said to Sky Sports.
“The division is really small. While we are in the moment, we won’t get too excited.”
Tottenham got off to a strong start against a buoyant Newcastle after receiving criticism for their poor performance in the 2-0 loss at Manchester United on Wednesday.
No one more so than Son Heung-Min, who took two shots in the first three minutes, one of which Nick Pope stopped and the other of which was a right-foot curler that just missed the goal.
After Kane had passed Son through, Son attempted to score too delicately, which gave Kieran Trippier time to clear the ball off the line.
Eric Dier of Tottenham caused some trepidation in the home team when he nearly scored a hilarious own goal with an over-cooked back pass that caught Lloris off guard and went just wide.
Newcastle then regained control of the match by scoring twice in the space of 10 minutes, both of which Lloris will find difficult to watch on the replays.
When a long ball came out of his goal, he appeared to be the favourite to handle it. However, he failed to clear it and collided with Wilson. Wilson then chipped the ball into an open net, infuriating the Tottenham players.
Wilson did look to use his arm to knock Lloris to the ground, but a VAR review revealed no issues.
In the following nine minutes, World Cup-winning goalie Lloris placed Ryan Sessegnon under pressure with a careless pass out, and Almiron forced the Tottenham left back off the ball before advancing and netting Newcastle’s second and his sixth goal of the year.
An electrical storm and a deluge further dampened home emotions, while some jubilant Newcastle supporters stripped to their underwear and danced in the rain as Tottenham departed the field to boos at halftime.
After the break, Antonio Conte’s team needed a quick response, and Kane provided it in the 54th minute by outmuscling Trippier to get on the end of a cross and score with a stooping header at the far post. The goal was permitted following a thorough VAR review for a potential offside as the ball came in.
Kane, along with Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, and Sergio Aguero, became the fourth player in the history of the Premier League to score 10 or more goals in each of nine straight seasons.
But after that, Tottenham found it difficult to break down Newcastle’s organised defence and had little to complain about.
More in Sports:https://buzzing.today/sports/