With two goals from Richarlison, Spurs defeat Newcastle.
LONDON, December 10 — Yesterday’s 4-1 thumping of moody Newcastle was spurred on by Richarlison’s double, which gave Tottenham their first victory in six games.
Spurs blew the momentum from their incredible start to the season, losing four of their next five games after taking the lead in the Premier League on October 27 after defeating Crystal Palace.
During that losing streak, Ange Postecoglou’s attacking strategies were called naive, but the Australian stood by them and was rewarded with a goal spree at Newcastle’s expense.
Tottenham’s lead was doubled before halftime in North London thanks to goals from Brazil’s Richarlison and Destiny Udogie.
After Son Heung-min scored a late penalty kick, Richarlison scored again in the second half to pull fifth-place Tottenham closer to fourth-place Manchester City.
Joelinton’s goal in the dying seconds did little to ease Newcastle’s humiliation.
This was yet another depressing outcome for Newcastle, who are currently four points behind Tottenham in seventh place after their 3-0 thrashing at Everton on Thursday.
The worst possible lead-up to Wednesday’s pivotal Champions League group stage matchup between AC Milan and the team.
To advance to the round of 16, Eddie Howe’s team needs to defeat Milan at St. James’ Park and hope Paris Saint-Germain drops points against Borussia Dortmund.
Richarlison set the tone early on by swarming onto Dejan Kulusevski’s pass and firing over, but they will need to drastically improve on this lackluster performance.
Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle, who missed the mark by the narrowest of margins, held his head in frustration.
Spurs win
Alexander Isak of Newcastle was about to shoot, but Ben Davies made a fantastic last-ditch tackle to keep Tottenham level.
Tottenham continued to attack despite their narrow escapes, and moments later Miguel Almiron cleared Cristian Romero’s header off the line.
With players moving forward at a reckless pace, Tottenham scored a goal that perfectly captured their freedom of movement in the 26th minute to take the lead.
From left back, Udogie moved into central midfield to seize the ball and distribute it to Son, who was on the left side.
Most defenders would have been satisfied with that, but Udogie had permission to go even farther forward as he dashed into the Newcastle area and clinically finished close to goal after Son’s low cross.
With his 14th appearance since joining from Udinese, it was the Italian’s first goal for the team and kept Tottenham’s record of scoring in every league game this year.
At the other end, Tottenham was still wide open, and Almiron had a better option than to shoot directly at Guglielmo Vicario.
Kieran Trippier was finding Son unplayable, though, and in the 38th minute the South Korean side ducked under a careless tackle from the defender before laying off a cross that Richarlison headed home from four yards out.
Brennan Johnson’s hard strike that went 20 yards and just missed the post came just inches from making it three.
At the hour, Richarlison made the outcome official, leaving Newcastle in a state of disarray.
As Newcastle’s defenders and goalkeeper Martin Dubravka left it to each other, Pedro Porro’s long pass created havoc and allowed Richarlison to swoop in for an easy finish.
In the 85th minute, Son was fouled by Dubravka, which led to a penalty that the Spurs captain easily converted, making things much worse for the unfortunate Newcastle.
In stoppage time, Joelinton completed Callum Wilson’s pass, but the damage was already done. — AFP
