Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.
St James' Park, NewcastleAttendance52,206.
Report and free match highlights as two goals from Alexander Isak and one each from Anthony Gordon and Fabian Schar earned Newcastle a four-goal win over Tottenham at St James’ Park. Eddie Howe’s side moved sixth, while Spurs dropped to fifth
Saturday 13 April 2024 17:33, UK
Newcastle moved up to sixth in the Premier League table with an emphatic 4-0 win over Tottenham at St James' Park.
Two goals in the space of 95 first-half seconds from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon took the game away from Spurs before Isak's second and a late Fabian Schar header confirmed their dominance. It is the biggest defeat of Ange Postecoglou's time in charge.
Tottenham had been hoping to open up an advantage over Aston Villa. Instead, this heavy defeat sees them drop below their rivals into fifth in the table as they found themselves overpowered by a clinical Newcastle.
Tottenham had the early chances through Timo Werner but were soon made to pay for his wastefulness in front of goal. Micky van de Ven slipped for each of the first two goals but the finishing from Newcastle's in-form attacking players was so clinical.
Gordon threaded Isak in following a counter-attack by the home side and Isak stepped inside the Dutch defender before firing past the goalkeeper. It was never in doubt, a 20th goal of the season in all competitions for the in-demand Newcastle striker.
Spurs barely had time to catch breath before Gordon added a goal of his own to double the advantage, once again leaving Van de Ven in his wake before finishing emphatically beyond Guglielmo Vicario. There remains an alarming vulnerability to Postecoglou's side.
It was exposed again by the impressive Isak after the interval when he cleverly bent his run on the halfway line, racing onto Bruno Guimaraes' long pass with the hapless Van de Ven unable to track him. Once again, the forward's finish was never in doubt.
It was a chastening experience for Postecoglou and his players, with a number of those featuring here also having played in the 6-1 defeat at the same ground in April. Tactically, Eddie Howe's switch to a back five for this fixture seemed to utterly confound Spurs.
Schar's header from Gordon's right-wing corner added late gloss, to the delight of the home support. "It's happened again," they sang.
Despite the injury concerns, Newcastle now look well set to secure European football next season. The fear for Tottenham supporters is that their own team could be joining them in the Europa League unless they improve defensively in the coming weeks.
Howe adjusted Newcastle's formation in an attempt to disrupt Tottenham's build-up through inverted full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie. The plan worked effectively, although the manager was keen to ensure that the praise was directed at his players.
He said: "Tottenham are unique in what they do and we felt we needed to change to give ourselves the best chance of what we wanted to do. I thought tactically it worked, it was a really good delivery from the players, they always deserve the praise for the execution."
Asked if Newcastle can now finish above Manchester United, Howe said: "Who knows? We have just got to keep doing our bit which is trying to win every game. We are hopefully returning to somewhere near our best and we have got to keep heading in that direction."
"Newcastle were good, credit to them, I thought they were really good today," said Tottenham boss Postecoglou afterwards.
"We just didn't really get a grip of the game at all. Right from the start it felt like we allowed Newcastle to dictate the way the game was played, we never really wrestled control at any stage. We paid a price for that.
It ended up being a transition game. A lot of it was self-inflicted by us. We were not brave on the ball. We have been really good this year at understanding that when we have the ball we can be a threat. We just shied away from that today.
"When you do that you allow the game to be played on Newcastle's terms. When that happens especially away from home it is hard for us to then claw it back once it has got away from us."
Newcastle resume their push for European football when they travel to Crystal Palace on Wednesday April 24. Kick-off 8pm.
Tottenham return to Premier League action with the North London Derby at home to rivals Arsenal on Sunday April 28, live on Sky Sports. Kick-off 2pm.
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