‘Not too much science’: Tottenham end five-game winless run with four-goal rout
Tottenham Hotspur shrugged off their slump and revived their top-four ambitions by blowing away leggy Newcastle United 4-1 yesterday in the Premier League.
Spurs ended a five-game winless run with a relentless display capped by two goals from Richarlison and other from Destiny Udogie and Heung-min Son.
It lifted them back to within touching distance of the Champions League places and inflicted a second heavy defeat in four days on injury-hit Newcastle.
“To bounce back like that is very important. We don’t want to make more mistakes and I hope we can continue to perform like this,” said Son, who scored a late penalty.
“We have to be more ruthless when we go in their box, like we did today. Beating Newcastle 4-0 [sic] is not easy. Amazing teams keep going so it should be a habit for us.”
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said his team were benefiting from players returning to fitness. “There’s not too much science behind it,” he added.
“We were very light but we’re getting some players back. You can see they [Newcastle] are running on fumes at the moment. We’ve hopefully come out the other side.
“I thought we were more bright in the front third. Sonny was excellent particularly in the first half and other guys feed off that. We probably could have had a lot more goals.”
Newcastle have now lost five and won just one of their away games in the top-flight and must rouse themselves for a decisive Champions League clash with AC Milan on Wednesday.
Spurs remain three points behind fourth-placed Manchester City after the champions scored twice in three second-half minutes to avoid a huge shock at Luton Town.
Elijah Adebayo’s header put the hosts ahead but Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish hauled City back into the game and within four points of league leaders Liverpool.
Everton boosted their survival chances with a third win in four games, a 2-0 home victory over Chelsea earned by goals from Abdoulaye Doucoure and substitute Lewis Dobbin.
On a miserable day for the visitors which left them 12th in the table, 14 points off the Champions League places, they also lost captain Reece James to a hamstring injury.
Fulham continued their free-scoring form with a 5-0 thrashing of West Ham that featured five different scorers: Raul Jimenez, Willian, Tosin Adaribioyo, Harry Wilson and Vinicius.
A second five-goal win in a week took the Cottagers’ tally to 16 goals in four games and lifted them into the top half of the league, one place below the Hammers.