Spurs 100% record at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season came to an end at the hands of Newcastle United following a rather tame display in North London.
Antonio Conte made 5 changes from Wednesday night’s turgid showing at Old Trafford – one of which was a first start of the season for Oliver Skipp – but retained the 3-5-2 formation that he has been forced into in the absence of Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison.
Spurs started really brightly, with Son coming close with a couple of long-range efforts, and then being denied by Nick Pope when played in by Harry Kane.
However, that was as good as it got in the first half; just after the half-hour mark, a long ball from Newcastle caused a whole host of unnecessary problems. Hugo Lloris only half-cleared the ball with Callum Wilson closing in, and the Newcastle forward turned and fired in from distance after colliding with the Spurs keeper.
Despite a VAR check, there was no respite, and any hopes of a quick response were dashed 10 minutes later, where another piece of dubious goalkeeping from Lloris saw Miguel Almiron double the visitors’ lead. Under virtually no pressure, Lloris played Ryan Sessegnon into trouble with a long pass, and he was outmuscled by Almiron, who danced into our penalty area and fired underneath the Frenchman.
After the break, Spurs took a while to get going, but managed to pull a goal back within 10 minutes of the restart when Clement Lenglet flicked on Son’s corner for Kane to head into an empty net. Back in business – or so we thought; Spurs created absolutely nothing for the remainder of the match, and Newcastle fans were able to rejoice at the final whistle, commemorating a victory that took them to fourth by doing the conga in the North London rain.