Key events
82 min: The corner sails over everyone’s head. Beneath it, Burn wrestles with Bentancur. The pair collapse, and Newcastle want a penalty. VAR is having a look. A good look. Have to say, this would be really harsh. In fact, Burn looks slightly confused that the VAR is having any sort of look at all.
81 min: Woltemade slips Elanga into space down the right. Elanga’s cross is hacked out for a throw. The ball’s worked back to Hall, Woltemade doing a fine teeing-up job again. Hall has a dig from distance. It’s deflected wide left for a corner. Guimaraes to whip it in.
79 min: That’s Tottenham’s first attempt on target this evening!
GOAL! Newcastle United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Romero 78)
… but it’s not properly cleared. Kudus dribbles down the right. He shows the ball to Hall, who doesn’t get close enough. Kudus crosses low. Romero stoops at the near post and sends a diving header into the bottom right. Out of nowhere!
78 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
77 min: Miley dozes with the ball at his feet by the right of his own D. Kolo Muani nicks it off his toe, spins and dribbles into the box down the channel. He’s about to shoot from a tight angle when Joelinton intervenes and pokes behind for a corner. Before it can be taken, Spurs make a triple change, replacing Johnson, Bergvall and Kolo Muani with Simons, Tel and Richarlison.
75 min: Elanga advances down the right and wins a corner off Udogie. Miley’s delivery is punched clear by Vicario. Gordon comes again down the left. He cuts infield and looks for Woltemade in the middle. The ball breaks to Miley, who tries to pass the ball into the bottom left. Vicario parries and snaffles at the second attempt.
73 min: That was a fine finish by Guimaraes … but the goal was really all about Gordon, who sparked into life out on the left, his carpe-diem burst sending all the constituent parts of the Tottenham defence spinning like tops. Magnificent wingplay.
GOAL! Newcastle United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Guimaraes 71)
Gordon turns on the jets, backing himself in a footrace down the left against Porro and Romero. He wins it easily. He crosses low. The ball is cushioned backwards by Woltemade and sits up for Guimaraes on the edge of the box. The Toon captain opens his body and sidefoots a power-curler across Vicario and into the bottom right!
69 min: Bergvall and Kolo Muani combine neatly down the inside-right channel, the former spinning elegantly towards the byline before rolling a tempting ball through the six-yard box. But Johnson isn’t on the front foot, and Newcastle clear with ease. The hosts counter, and when Gordon crosses from the left, the unchallenged Udogie needlessly heads behind for a corner. That comes in from the right, and Woltemade is caught offside. Both sides are pushing hard, but the final ball is sadly lacking. So far.
67 min: Gordon and Elanga come on for Murphy and Barnes.
66 min: Murphy swings in from the right. Romero is forced to turn behind for a corner. Vicario slaps the set piece half-clear, but Livramento drives through a crowded box. He really creams his shot, and it’s heading towards the bottom right. But Johnson stands firm to block. Vicario might have had it covered anyway. But it needed stopping.
64 min: … and it’s Hall who clears Kudus’s corner. Newcastle counter, and Guimaraes pings a glorious defence-splitter down the inside-left channel to send Murphy dribbling box-ward. Murphy shoots. Porro blocks. Murphy should have done much better.
63 min: Udogie wins a corner down the left. Porro sends it long. Kolo Muani prepares to sidefoot home from six yards, but Hall gets a little nick on the ball as it drops, sending it out for a corner on the other side. A crucial intervention.
62 min: Porro slips Bergvall into space down the right. Bergvall cuts back to nobody in particular and Newcastle clear. But Bergvall has been by far the liveliest member of the Spurs attack.
60 min: Spurs enjoy a bit of possession in the Newcastle end, without ever threatening to find the final pass. But small acorns.
58 min: As for that Vicario complaint just before the half-time whistle: something was apparently chucked at him from the crowd.
56 min: … Bentancur is booked for a late clip on Hall once the ball has been lost.
55 min: Guimaraes, swinging the corner in from the left, nearly scores direct! Vicario claws out from under his bar. The next corner leads to a Spurs counter, from which …
54 min: Murphy jinks his way past Johnson down the right with ease. His cross finds Hall at the far stick. Hall volleys towards the bottom left, but the ball’s deflected out for a corner, from which bedlam ensues. Not for the first time, but with very different intent, Bergvall back-flicks over the Gallowgate-End bar.
52 min: Sarr comes haring into the back of Guimaraes and is pretty fortunate not to go into the book. Romero comes across to give the referee a piece of his mind anyway. He’s the captain, so he’s within his rights … but he’s also been booked already, so wants to watch himself.
50 min: Guimaraes crosses deep from the right. Barnes shapes to volley at the corner of the six-yard box, but Porro intercepts the dropping ball just in time.
49 min: Otherwise, it’s been a low-octane start to the second period. “If Ange Postecoglou hadn’t jumped into the hotseat at the City Ground, just imagine how high his reputation would be right now,” daydreams Kári Tulinius. “He guided this side to a European trophy. That seems unthinkable, looking at this performance. Mind you, that also seemed unthinkable watching many Spurs matches last season too.”
47 min: A slow start to the half. Nothing happening. Then suddenly Barnes bursts into space down the inside-left channel. Away from Romero too easily. He shoots. Vicario blocks at the near post. Woltemade heads the rebound goalwards, but Danso is on the line to clear.
Newcastle get the second half started. They’ve swapped out Tonali for Guimaraes. They’re kicking towards the Gallowgate now.
Half-time postbag … and neither fanbase is particularly happy. “Without Bruno Guimarães we are a different team. Even an an off day he adds value in so many small and underrated ways. His vision and range of passing is probably unmatched. Our rhythm is completely different and we don’t have the same incision or threat on the break” – Chris Paraskevas
“I fear that this match and the upcoming meeting with Brentford might ratchet up the pressure on Frank to unbearable levels. Lose these two and I feel it’ll be curtains. The scoreline isn’t as bad as it was against Fulham, but the performance is worse. We can’t string two passes together in midfield, while giving the ball away repeatedly near the box as we are completely unable to bypass their aggressive press. We lose every single duel and get outmuscled and outran every time. We don’t press, we don’t attack, we don’t hold possession, we don’t shoot. The supporters are furious and he hasn’t helped himself with the ‘not a true Spurs fan’ comment from the press conference last week. I support Frank and consider him a good manager, but it’s not just the fact we’re losing, it’s that we look so unbelievably stodgy and dire while still losing, and there’s no style of play or development that I can see” – Alexandra Ashton
HALF TIME: Newcastle United 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Joelinton hit the post, while Bergvall went close with an elaborate backheel. Other than that, nothing to report. Kind of what you’d expect from teams that started the day 12th and 13th.
45 min: Vicario has a long word with the referee, who pops over and has a word with a member of the Newcastle club staff. That staff member then starts talking into his walkie-talkie. Not sure what’s been said or done, but the Spurs keeper isn’t happy, and the ref’s seen fit to escalate the complaint. More when we have it.
44 min: Barnes shoots from the edge of the D. The ball’s deflected wide left. But the flag pops up for an offside against Woltemade.
42 min: Kudus crosses low from the right again. Bergvall tries another backflick, along the ground this time, but it’s blocked and cleared by Thiaw.
41 min: Spurs have enjoyed 59 percent of possession in the last ten minutes. A vast improvement, though the bar was set low. They still haven’t had a shot on target, mind.
39 min: Bergvall barrels down the inside-right channel, a determined 50-yard run. He flicks on for Kudus, who takes all the momentum out of the attack. Spurs have belatedly woken up.
37 min: Kudus has another shot blocked. I should quote dismal xG scores more often. It’s now 0.42-0.41, by the way.
36 min: … then up the other end, Kudus has a shot blocked, before in another wave of attack, Kudus skips past Hall down the right and crosses low. Begvall backflicks cutely, and the ball only just clears the bar instead of planting into the top-left corner! That would have been one hell of a finish!
35 min: Well, those xG stats nearly provoked the Football Gods into action! Joelinton spins into space down the inside-right channel, away from Bentancur, and whistles a low drive across Vicario and off the base of the left-hand post. The ball pings away from danger. Momentarily. It’s returned from the left, but Murphy and Woltemade get in each other’s way by the right-hand post. Spurs so fortunate.
34 min: The xG of this match is currently Newcastle 0.4, Tottenham 0. And so here we are.
32 min: Murphy sends a speculative looper in from the right. It sails hysterically over Vicario and only just wide left. That would have been a bit daft.
31 min: Tonali whips a cross in from the right. Thiaw wins a header at the far stick. Burn can’t do the same in the middle, six yards out. Vicario claims.
