April 13, (THEWILL)- Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League next season suffered a major blow on Saturday, as they succumbed to a chastening 4-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United in the English Premier League.
With Aston Villa, their top-four rivals, playing title-chasing Arsenal this weekend, the visit to the north-east provided Spurs with a golden opportunity to significantly boost their chances of playing in Europe’s premier club competition next season. However, the hosts came into this clash still in the hunt for a UEFA Europa Conference League spot, which could even turn into a Europa League spot depending on the outcome of the FA Cup.
The opening stages were intense and frantic, with clear-cut chances few and far between. Shortly after the half-hour mark, though, the Toon burst into life and were two to the good within 95 glorious seconds. Alexander Isak took advantage of a Micky van de Ven slip to slot past Martin Dúbravka, before Anthony Gordon caused the Netherlands international all sorts of problems once more following Pedro Porro’s poor back pass to find the bottom corner once more.
Destiny Udogie needed to produce a huge tackle to deny Isak a second before the interval, but not long after the restart, the Swede doubled his tally for the afternoon. This time, he ran onto a searching Bruno Guimarães pass before keeping his composure once more to beat Dúbravka in a one-on-one. In an attempt to rejuvenate his struggling outfit, Ange Postecoglou hauled off captain, Son-Heung Min, midway through the second period, but that rarely had an impact as Newcastle continued to dominate.
The Magpies are now unbeaten in six home league fixtures and move up to sixth in the table, albeit having played a game more than Manchester United who they lead by one point. Tottenham, meanwhile, missed the opportunity to put pressure on Villa and, while the UEFA coefficient table may earn the EPL a fifth UCL spot, the midweek continental results suggest that is by no means a guarantee.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
