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Newcastle United made it five wins in a row in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
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Goals from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak cancelled out Dominic Solanke’s early opener for Spurs as Newcastle cemented a spot in the top five to start 2025 - and here are five talking points from the game...
Botman returns
After more than nine months on the sidelines following ACL surgery, Sven Botman made his long-awaited return to first team action for Newcastle. It was a bold call from Eddie Howe to recall the Dutch defender straight back into the starting line-up.
And Newcastle got off to a shaky start with Botman beaten to the ball by Dominic Solanke who headed in Pedro Porro’s cross to give Spurs the lead inside four minutes. But Botman and his teammates quickly recovered to turn the game around.
Ultimately it was a welcome return for the 24-year-old, who made some important contributions in the match.
Reflecting on his decision to start Botman, Howe explained: “The thinking behind that is he has done the work and I wouldn’t play him unless I thought he was physically ready.
“He’s been very dedicated to his recovery, we’ve seen him put an extraordinary amount of work before he started training with us and he’s been training with us now for six weeks I think.
“He’s had three games and looked good in those games, of course he won’t be at his optimum level but that’ll come in the following months. But I thought he was physically and mentally ready to play. He was chomping at the bit to be involved again.
“It was a difficult start for him and the team when Tottenham scored but a great response. I thought he did very well today.”
Newcastle United score with their first shot on goal for the fifth successive match
Newcastle have developed a ruthless streak in front of goals when starting games with Anthony Gordon quickly drawing the away side level. For the fifth successive match, The Magpies opened the scoring with their first shot on goal.
After failing to even register a clean shot at Crystal Palace a little over a month ago, Newcastle’s attacking turnaround has been as impressive as it has been remarkable.
Sandro Tonali’s goal against Brentford, Isak’s openers against Ipswich Town and Manchester United and Anthony Gordon’s strikes against Aston Villa and now Spurs. This time was slightly different as it was an equalising goal to help Newcastle bounce back from a poor start rather than get off to a flyer as they had done in their previous games.
“I think that is the most pleasing thing from [the match],” Howe said. “How we reacted in that moment [to going behind].
“Scoring so quickly after they scored and then having the maturity and quality in our play to dominate that first-half in the way that we did is really good signs for the future, I think.”
VAR angers Tottenham
While Gordon’s goal quickly drew Newcastle level, Spurs felt it should not have stood due to a handball from Joelinton in the build-up to the goal. The players and bench protested and injured Tottenham defender Destiny Udogie even called VAR ‘a joke’ on social media following the decision.
But by the letter of the law, as Andy Madley did not blow for handball on field, VAR could not rule the goal out for handball. Joelinton also neither scored nor assisted the goal.
The Premier League Match Centre explained the decision to award the goal by stating: “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.”
Head coach Eddie Howe was open in admitting the ball hit Joelinton’s hand but he felt the officials were merely following the latest handball rules. Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou refused to reference the incident but suggested that the match was not played ‘on a fair and even playing ground’.
“Don't ask me about the [handball] decision,” Postecoglou said. “I have my opinions on it but we were outstanding today. I'm disappointed that it wasn't football that denied us getting our rewards today.
"You can talk about whatever you want. You want my opinion - if all things were equal and balanced we would have won.”
Alexander Isak equals Newcastle United record - can he go five further?
It was ultimately Newcastle who won the match thanks to Isak reacting quickly to skim in Jacob Murphy’s deflected cross into the bottom left corner of the goal. It was the seventh consecutive Premier League game Isak had found the net in, equalling a league record set by Alan Shearer in 1996.
Newcastle midfielder Joe Willock also scored in seven consecutive Premier League appearances back in 2021, though he was absent in two matches in that run. Isak still has a long way to go to break Jamie Vardy’s record of scoring in 11 successive Premier League matches set during Leicester City’s title-winning campaign back in 2015-16.
To beat that record, Isak would have to score in Newcastle’s upcoming league matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers, AFC Bournemouth, Southampton, Fulham and then away at Manchester City.
Newcastle United ‘injury’ substitutions explained
Gordon and Botman were forced off in the closing stages due to what was described by Howe as ‘legitimate injuries’ they picked up during the match. Gordon was left with a bloody nose after connecting with the shoulder of Dejan Kulusevski inside the penalty area before being withdrawn shortly after.
Botman was able to get through 90 minutes on his return before going down with cramp and limping off in stoppage time.
Explaining the ‘injury’ substitutions, Howe told The Gazette: “I don’t think it was anything more than cramp for Sven. Which was expected given the amount of time he’s been out.
“It was a great effort from him to last that long. We were unsure how long he would be able to go for, with the speed of the Premier League. But thankfully he got through the majority of the game.
“I think [Gordon] was just a cut. It was a nasty one, and he had blood all over him, so he did well to get back onto the pitch. Hopefully, it was nothing more than that though.”
Both players are expected to be available for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Arsenal (8pm kick-off).