Key events
54 min: Spurs corner. Kulusevski takes it short to Porro and Gordon blocks his attempted cross.
52 min: Spence slides into block an attempted ball across the face of goal from Lewis Hall as he ran on to a through ball from Gordon. Hall takes the corner, the ball is a mite too high for Dan Burn and Spurs clear their lines.
51 min: Solanke chases a ball from deep into the Newcastle box but is crowded off it by the combined forces of Botman and Livramento. Good defending by the Geordie duo.
50 min: Dubravka is back on his feet after receiving treatment following that foul by Solanke.
47 min: Newcastle fail to clear another excellent cross from Porro and there’s a potential handball in the Newcastle penalty area as one defender kicks the ball on to the hand of another. Dubravka comes to gather the ball as it spirals up in the air and is fouled by Solanke. There’s a VAR check for a potential penalty for the (completely accidental) handball but none is given.
Second half: Tottenham 1-2 Newcastle
46 min: Play resumes with Sergio Reguilon on for Spurs in place of Radu Dragusin. He moves to left-back, Djed Spence moves into central defence alongside Archie Gray and Pedro Porro stays at right-back. On TNT Sports they’re saying that rumours around White Hart Lane this morning suggested Dragusin and Archie Gray are both ill.
An email: “Ange Postecoglou has to get sacked,” writes A. “We’re in relegation form and there’s no prospect of that changing because he won’t change his tactics, and the tactics are fundamentally flawed.
“The ironic thing is that Levy has finally decided to back a manager (with time if not money), but it’s the wrong one. AP is seriously out of his depth. Tactics and system not working, haven’t for a long time (before the injuries, which are also obviously caused by the style of play).
“He has zero idea of or inclination for a plan b. Levy is a joke – he’ll sack him anyway, but wait for Liverpool to pump us out the milk cup first.”
Sacked by replaced by who?
Newcastle’s opener: While I don’t think Joelinton’s “handball” should have been punished, given the current shambolic state of the handball laws I would not have been in the least bit surprised if it had been.
However, it seems that the match officials have decided his arms were not in an “unatural position”, which will come as heartwarming news to anyone out there with arms who has ever walked, jogged or run.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Newcastle
Half-time: The players troop off for the break, with Newcastle well worth their 2-1 lead, despite going behind to an early Dominic Solanke opener after 4 minutes. Anthony Gordon equalised within 40 seconds with a goal shrouded in controversy, before Alexander Isak converted Jacob Murphy’s cross to put the visitors ahead.
45+4 min: It’s half-time.
45+3 min: Porro sends a decent cross towards the back post, trying to pick out Timo Werner’s run. Livramento pokes the ball out for a corner, which Isak heads clear.
45+2 min: A Murphy cross into the Tottenham penalty area is headed clear by Dragusin. Moments later, Joelinton tries to run on to a ball around the corner from Isak but is unable to get a shot away. Austin tidies up at the back for Spurs.
45 min: We’ll have four additional minutes before a half-time break that cannot come quickly enough for Tottenham Hotspur. They are currently being completely overrun in midfield and it’s a problem Ange Postecoglou and his staff need to sort out.
44 min: An off-balance Joelinton shoots wide from a tight angle after being played in behind by a weighted pass from Anthony Gordon.
42 min: Djed Spence tries to shepherd a slowly trundling ball out of play over the byline under pressure from Livramento. The ball hits the Spurs defender’s ankle on its way out but the referee doesn’t spot it and awards a goal-kick instead of a corner.
40 min: Newcastle advance again, a goal to the good, a spring in their collective step, looking far more settled and confident than their hosts.
GOAL! Tottenham, 1-2 Newcastle (Isak 38)
Newcastle lead! It’s another soft one for Spurs to concede as Jacob Murphy, given all the time in the world, whips a low ball across the face of the Spurs goal from the right side of the penalty area after being picked out by Tonali. Isak gets the crucial touch despite Dragusin being stuck to him like a barnacle.
36 min: Another Newcastle corner is aimed towards Botman but Lucas Bergvall manages to half-clear before Austin tidies up for Spurs.
34 min: Anthony Gordon swings a corner towards the far post, where Brandon Austin is forced to punch clear under extreme pressure from Dan Burn and Sven Botman. Burn ends up entangled in the back of the net and has a go at the Spurs goalkeeper as if it’s somehow his fault.
32 min: After good work by Bruno Guimaraes, Jacob Murphy sends a low ball acrossd the face of the Tottenham goal, where Alexander Isak makes contact but steers the ball wide on the stretch. At the far post, Anthony Gordon screams in frustration as he was unmarked and would almost certainly have had a tap-in if Isak had left the ball.
30 min: Djed Spence pokes the ball out for a corner off the toe of Tino Livramento. Sandro Tonali, Alexander Isak and Dan Burn Burn try to crowd around Tottenham’s inexperienced goalkeeper, but Kulusevski and Dragusin immediately move into a position to help Brandon Austin. Nothing comes of the set-piece.
27 min: Regarding Newcastle’s equaliser and the potential Joelinton handball, the Premier League have posted the following on X: “The referee’s call of goal was confirmed by VAR, who checked for a potential handball by Joelinton in the build-up and deemed that his arm was by his side, in a natural position and the contact was accidental.”
I’d need to see it again but I don’t remember Joelinton’s arm being by his side. He was, however, completely oblivious to the ball travelling towards what I recall being an outstretched arm.
25 min: Already on a yellow card, Dan Burn spreads his arms wide and blocks a Dejan Kulusevski pass with his right one. He avoids a second booking and might consider himself lucky to do so.
23 min: An Anthony Gordon free-kick from deep is cleared, but the ball finds its way out to Jacob Murphy on the right flank. There’s nobody in a Newcastle shirt on hand to convert his tantalising ball across the face of the Tottenham Hotspur goal.
21 min: Tottenham goalkeeper Brandon Austin does well to get down and save from Anthony Gordon as the Newcastle winger tried to score from the exact same spot from where Newcastle’s opener came from.
19 min: Spurs sweep upfield and Kulusevski has a cross from the right put out for a corner. Pedro Porro swings the ball into the Newcastle penalty area but fails to beat Isak at the near post. The Swedish striker heads clear.
18 min: Dan Burn gets booked for taking out Dejan Kulusevski as the Tottenham midfielder tried to maraud upfield on the break.
17 min: Lewis Hall sends a cross from deep into the Tottenham penalty area, where Brandon Austin claims it comfortably before chuking the ball long to Kulusevski on the left flank.
15 min: Joelinton appears to catch Bergvall with a raised accidental-on-purpose elbow into the side of the head but gets away with it.
12 min: Radu Dragusin gets himself into all sorts of bother while trying to play the ball out from the back but just about gets away with it. Whatever your thoughs on Joelinton’s “handball”, it’s worth noting that a similarly ill-advised foray out from the back from Spurs led to the Newcastle equaliser.
11 min: Sven Botman makes a brilliant block in his own penalty area to deny Dominic Solanke his second goal of the afternoon.
8 min: Debate will rage over whether that goal should have stood as an attempted pass upfield by Lucas Bergvall hit the outstretched arm of Joelinton, who was complewtely oblivious to what was going on. Despite this, his intervention allowed Newcastle to win possession not far outside the Spurs penalty area.
Gordon was slipped in behind and made no mistake with his finish. I say debate will rage and there’s also a certain Australian on the tuchline who is beside himself with anger.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Newcastle (Gordon 6)
Newcastle equalise! Anthony Gordon scores with a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner after Spurs get caught trying to play the ball out from the back.
5 min: That’s an excellent start for Tottenham and a good finish from Solanke, in front of the watching England manager, Thomas Tuchel.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Newcastle (Solanke 4)
Spurs lead! Pedro Porro swings an early cross into the Newcastle penalty area from the right and Dominic Solanke gets on Sven’s Botman’s blind side to power a header past Martin Dubravka.
2 min: Play resumes with Livramento fit to continue and a drop-ball for Newcastle, whose players are wearing maroon and blue striped shirts, white shorts and maroon socks.
1 min: There’s a break in play as Newcastle right-back Tino Livramento goes to ground in apparent agony and receives treatment after an early collision with Lucas Bergvall.
Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle is go …
1 min: Tottenham get the ball rolling and immediately play a long diagonal towards Timo Werner on the left touchline.
Not long now: Led by referee Andy Madley and his team of match officials, the players of both teams march out on to the pitch for the last of the pre-match formalities on a bitterly cold afternoon in London. Dejan Kulusevski and Bruno Guimaraes wear the captains’ armbands.
I think I read somewhere this morning that there’s been at least one goal in each of the past 59 games played between these sides and I will hardly be alone in being gobsmacked if we don’t get several more today. Kick-off is just a few minutes away …
An email: “G’day Barry,” writes Chris Paraskevas, who I’m guessing might be in Australia. “The lads and I (three grown men with actual resoonsibilities in life) have tempted fate and assembled to watch the game together.
“In the past this has always resulted in disaster. To top things off, we are all wearing a variation of this season’s Newcastle strip. Given Tottenham have had to call up Ledley King at centre-back, surely even our me̶n̶’̶s̶ ̶c̶l̶u̶b̶ supporters club evil eye/curse won’t help Ange tonight.”
Transfer news: It is being reported that Tottenham Hotspur are on the verge of signing Slavia Prague goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who is reported to be in London undergoing a medical. A fee of £12.5m plus add-ons is being mentioned for the Czech Republic U-21 international who has made 29 appearances for Slavia Prague this season and kept 14 clean sheets.
Eddie Howe on the chatter linking Alexander Isak with a January move away from St James’ Park: “Our players are loved by us and wanted by us,” he told reporters. “Their focus can only be on the here and now. I don’t see it being an issue for us, especially in this transfer window. The players are very focused.”
Ange Postecoglou on Tottenham’s transfer window plans: “The club is working hard to get some help for the playing group,” he told reporters. “We need to bolster up our numbers a little bit. January is obviously not an easy time to bring players in quickly and we still want to do what’s best for us rather than panic.”
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Andy Madley.
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Assistants: Nick Hopton and Craig Taylor.
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Fourth official: Lewis Smith.
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VAR: Chris Kavanagh.
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Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis.
Those teams: As expected, third choice goalkeeper Brandon Austin starts for Spurs and the 25-year-old from Hemel Hemstead will make his first senior appearance in English football following short loan spells in Denmark and the USA. The most recent of those, with Orlando, was in 2021.
Elsewhere in the side, Timo Werner starts ahead of Son Heung-min, while James Maddison is on the bench. Djed Spence gets another start, in place of the injured Destiny Udogie. Lucas Bergvall comes in for the suspended Rodrigo Bentancur.
Sven Botman is welcomed straight into the heart of Newcastle’s defence on his return from nine months on the sidelines with a knee injury, while Tino Livramento starts at full-back in place of Kieran Trippier, who drops to the bench.
Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle line-ups
Tottenham Hotspur: Austin; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Bergvall, Sarr; Johnson, Kulusevski, Werner; Solanke.
Subs: Whiteman, Reguilon, Dorrington, Hardy, Bissouma, Maddison, Olusesi, Son, Lankshear.
Newcastle United: Dubravka; Livramento, Botman, Burn, Hall; Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Subs: Vlachodimos, Trippier, Barnes, Osula, Almiron, Kelly, Willock, Longstaff, Miley
Early team news
With Fraser Forster out sick after catching a bug that’s infilitrated the Tottenham camp, Ange Postecoglou is expected to give 25-year-old goalkeeper Brandon Austin his first senior start in English football after five years at the club and 78 games spent on the bench as an unused substitute. Good luck to him.
A glum Ange revealed yesterday that Destiny Udogie is expected to be out for at least six weeks with a hamstring injury and the Spurs full-back joins a long list of lame and halt in the Tottenham treatment room.
The names of Guglielmo Vicario, Mikey Moore, Richarlison, Micky van de Ven, Ben Davies, Cristian Romero and Wilson Odobert all currently feature on it. Djed Spence is available again but Rodrigo Bentancur misses out today through suspension.
Newcastle are without Fabian Schar, who joins Bentancur on the Naughty Step, while Nick Pope, Callum Wilson, Jamaal Lascelles and Emil Krafth all remain sidelined with injury. Sven Botman is expected to undergo a late fitness test and could make his first appearance for Newcastle since last March after recovering from a serious knee injury.
Premier League: Tottenham v Newcastle
Riding high in fifth place on the back of four consecutive Premier League wins, Newcastle arrive in London as the favourites to make it five on the spin against out-of-sorts hosts who have a lengthy injury list and are without a win in their past three games, two of which have been lost.
Tottenham Hotspur drew with Wolves last time out, while Newcastle’s most recent outing saw them humble Manchester United on their own turf at Old Trafford as they kept their fourth consecutive clean sheet in the top flight. Kick-off in North London is at 12.30pm (GMT) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
