Tottenham 5-1 Newcastle United
by Hugo Katz
at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

ANTONIO CONTE’S Spurs campaign for a place in the top four was strengthened significantly with their statement 5-1 win over Newcastle on Sunday afternoon.

Conte said of his team’s fine form: “For sure, the possibility to have more days to work with the team and prepare, this is helping us. I think this is very important, to have time. But we can improve, we need to continue to improve.

“This performance, like also the last performances in the last period, has to give us great confidence, but you know very well that in England this league is very difficult. But to play against us is not easy at this moment.”

The ball fell to the feet of Premier League player of the month Harry Kane, who took an early chance but uncharacteristically shot wide of the goal.

Conte described Kane’s performance as “amazing”, adding: “I said to him at the end of the game that it was a shame he didn’t score, but he played in a fantastic way. To have this type of player in your team makes you strong.”

The game initially felt like it had the potential to be a banana skin fixture for Spurs as they struggled to get any sustained possession in the Newcastle half, but that was soon to change.

Son gave away a needless foul on Joe Willock right on the edge of the area, giving a good distance for a Newcastle attempt. Fabian Schar hit the free kick into the far right corner of the net and although Hugo Lloris got a hand to it, it wasn’t enough. The goal was checked by VAR for possible handball, however, it stood.

Just before half-time Son made a trademark driving run from his own half and his shot earned Spurs a corner. Ben Davies headed home after a superb cross from Son, an important goal to equalise the scoreline.

Things kicked off when Saint-Maximin, Rodrigo Bentancur and Joelinton were all booked after an altercation in which Bentancur ended up on the deck, with Joelinton the offender.

Minutes after the break, Matt Doherty directed a dramatic diving header to the right of Dubravka after a Kane cross was missed by Son, and travelled all the way to the back post to meet the head of the Irishman.

In the 54th minute, Kane dropped deep and released Kulusevski who made a strong run and worked brilliantly to cross the ball hard and low to Son, who kept his composure and finished emphatically past Dubravka to the delight of fans in the South Stand.

Spurs started the second half with real emphasis, this time Kane broke forward and had a left-footed shot well blocked by Schar.

Newcastle broke with Targett down the left hand side, whose cross was met by a Ben Davies clearance — the Welshman had a terrific game.

Former Wolves man Doherty featured yet again, this time cutting back on his favoured right foot and crossing to Emerson Royal who finished cutely, putting the ball back where it came from in the bottom left corner and leaving everyone wondering: what on earth did Conte say to them at half time?

Guimaraes made a positive impact for the Magpies after coming on, and hung a nice ball up for Willock who headed over the crossbar.

Bentancur put in a real shift and when replaced by Harry Winks, he left the field to a standing ovation. Super sub Steven Bergwijn made an instant impact off the bench, continuing his vain of form with an ice cool finish after a through ball by Lucas, sealing off the win for the Lilywhites.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said in hindsight, his team would’ve benefitted from killing off the game by following up with a second goal.

 “[We were] 1-0 up and executing a really good plan I felt, controlling Tottenham as best we could. I think we did the first part of the game really well,” he said.

“I think probably the second goal was the key thing and the manner of it, and our perspective would be it was absolutely what we didn’t need to do at that moment in time.

“I think [after that] we chased the game probably in a way you can’t against this type of team. We became expansive, we ended up taking risks and we didn’t execute that well enough.”

All eyes now turn to tomorrow night’s clash between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park, to see whether the Gunners can take another three points back to North London and continue to challenge for a Champions League spot.

Player ratings: 

Tottenham:

Lloris - 6 

Davies - 8

Dier - 7

Romero - 9

Hojbjerg - 7

Bentancur - 7

Doherty - 8

Emerson - 7 

Kulusevski - 8

Kane - 8 

Son - 9

Subs:

Bergwijn - 7

Lucas - 6 

Winks – 6

Newcastle:

Dubravka - 5

Schar - 7

Burn - 6

Manquillo - 5

Targett - 5

Shelvey - 5

Joelinton - 5 

Willock - 6

Saint Maximin - 5

Chris Wood - 5

Ryan Fraser - 5

Subs:

Lascelles - 5

Guimaraes - 6 

Murphy - 5