Tottenham came from behind to comfortably beat Newcastle and moved up to fourth in the Premier League.
Antonio Conte’s side leap above north London rivals Arsenal on goal difference, but Mikel Arteta’s men have two games in hand including Monday’s trip to Crystal Palace.
It didn’t start well for the hosts as Magpies defender Fabian Schar curled in a free-kick on 39 minutes, though Hugo Lloris will be disappointed at not keeping the ball out.
Spurs responded on the stroke of half-time through Ben Davies’ glancing header from Son Heung-min’s sumptuous delivery into the danger area.
Immediately after the break, Spurs turned it around through Matt Doherty’s diving header from Harry Kane’s cross and they netted their third through Son’s clinical finish.
And it got even better on the hour mark when Emerson Royal poked in from close range following excellent build-up play by Doherty – and substitute Steven Bergwijn stroked in late on.
Newcastle had no answer and fell to their third consecutive defeat, leaving them 15th in the table but nine points above the relegation zone.
Spurs are beginning to find form at just the right time in the season, winning five of their last six games in the top flight. The only blemish came against a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Manchester United last month.
Boss Conte has had difficult moments during his tenure, questioning his players and his own capabilities, but his side showed their battling spirit to hit back against Newcastle and have now won 14 points from losing positions – more than any other Premier League team this season.
They should have opened the scoring but Eric Dier curled a free-kick wide and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg headed over from six yards out before the visitors struck.
Centre-back Schar stepped up to send his free-kick around the wall and although goalkeeper Lloris got good contact on the ball, he was unable to palm it out.
But Spurs managed to recover aided by the ever reliable Son, creating the first goal and getting on the scoresheet himself with a cool strike for his ninth goal in his last nine games at home.
Son’s goal was created by January signing Dejan Kulusevski, who continues to impress since his arrival from Juventus, while fellow winter acquisition Rodrigo Bentancur looks to be a pass master in the middle of the park, with an accuracy of 90%.
Both are spearheading Tottenham’s charge towards Europe’s elite competition with eight games left to play.
Bergwijn came on and ran through to net Spurs’ fifth and inflict defeat on Newcastle, whose form has dropped off after a run of nine games without defeat.
But that sequence of results may well be enough for Eddie Howe’s men to secure their Premier League status, with five further out-of-form teams battling it out for survival behind them.
Source – BBC Sport
