ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Tottenham 1
Newcastle 0
LONDON • Tottenham left it late again yesterday. Son Heung-min's second goal in four days since returning from the Asian Cup earned a 1-0 Premier League win over Newcastle that allowed Spurs to leapfrog Manchester City into second place.
Spurs also struck at the death to beat Fulham and Watford in recent weeks to ensure they have kept pace since Harry Kane and Dele Alli were injured.
Mauricio Pochettino's men are within four points of leaders Liverpool (61), who are in action at West Ham tomorrow, but just as significantly, they opened up a 10-point lead on Arsenal in the race for a top-four finish and Champions League football next season.
In keeping with a season of struggles, Tottenham were forced all the way by a dogged Newcastle, who were buoyed by a stunning 2-1 win over Manchester City in midweek.
Lucas Moura headed wide from point-blank range, Erik Lamela hit the woodwork and Christian Eriksen's flick was somehow hooked off the line by Fabian Schar - until Son settled it seven minutes from time.
"The two games were very important," said the South Korean, who scored the equaliser against Watford in midweek and compensated for Kane's absence with his ninth goal in 10 appearances and his 14th of the season.
14
Goals Son Heung-Min has been involved in his last 10 games (nine scored, five assisted) for Tottenham.
"With six points we have had a great week. It was a difficult game, but we are happy to get the six points and we deserved this one."
He had a helping hand from Martin Dubravka, the goalkeeper who let the powerful effort slip under his grasp to undo all his side's good work in holding out for 83 minutes.
Newcastle's club record £20 million signing (S$35.5 million), playmaker Miguel Almiron, did not have international clearance to make his debut, so Rafael Benitez named the same side that started against City with the same game plan to defend deep and frustrate their opponents.
Fernando Llorente, the 33-year-old match winner against Watford, was benched after playing the full 90 minutes in Spurs' three previous games, leaving Moura to lead the line. But the Brazilian fluffed his lines, as did his teammates despite camping in the Newcastle half.
The hosts forced Dubravka into only one serious save before the break when former Magpies midfielder Moussa Sissoko turned a well-worked corner towards goal.
A similar pattern followed in the second half, but the visitors nearly caught Spurs cold with a flowing counter-attack when Salomon Rondon's powerful header from DeAndre Yedlin's cross came back off the post with Hugo Lloris stranded.
Lloris also had to make a flying save to turn a curling effort from Ayoze Perez behind.
But Spurs laid siege to Newcastle's wall of 10 men and had their reward. Pochettino was delighted by the character of his side, who have bounced back after being knocked out of both domestic Cups.
Asked if he will be supporting Arsenal who travel to City today, he said: "No, no way!"
He also questioned why they are being asked to play their next league game against Leicester on Sunday in the week of their Champions League last-16 first-leg game at home to Borussia Dortmund, who play their fixture on the Saturday.
"Twenty-four hours can make a massive difference," he said.
"It is difficult to understand."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
Mourinho concedes Man Utd incapable of living with Liverpool Klopp's substitute Xherdan Shaqiri's two deflected goals helped the Reds back on top of the league By AFP
Mourinho concedes Man Utd incapable of living with Liverpool
London - England captain Harry Kane insists the Three Lions' squad are too united to be divided by the tension of club rivalries surrounding the Premier League title race and upcoming Champions
Kane insists club rivalries will not split England camp
Reds get back fear factor, says Van Dijk AFP. The Anfield side fell behind domestic and European rivals but Tuesday's remarkable 4-3 aggregate win over Barcelona secured back-to-back Champions
Liverpool news: Virgil van Dijk warns Reds of Huddersfield
MIAMI (AFP) - Fifa moved a step closer on Friday (March 15) to expanding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to 48 teams and hopes to confirm the plans in June if a suitable co-host can be found.. Read
World Cup Streaming
AD
fanical.com/Womens-World-Cup
Report Ad
US Women's World Cup. Women's Soccer Blogs, Forums & News
Petitioning for bankruptcy can be a long process, but it doesn't need to be a difficult one. Most of it is simply a matter of filling out the paperwork correctly and approaching things in the right order. When a debtor attempts to declare bankruptcy, their case is examined by a government employee called a trustee.
The Bankruptcy Process - What Does It Involve?
Home » News » Sports » £100m too cheap, but hard to keep hold of Hazard, admits Sarri £100m too cheap, but hard to keep hold of Hazard, admits Sarri On April 9, 2019 7:18 am In Sports by
It will be hard to keep Hazard: Sarri - nation.com.pk
Football: Man City fans wary of United and suspect defence, Liverpool supporters fear fatigue and Magpies
Nicole Chia, News & Top Stories - The Straits Times
Bournemouth introduced top scorer Callum Wilson from the bench but his best chance was deflected for a corner and the victory, which leaves Wolves seventh in the table, was sealed by Cavaleiro with a cool finish in injury time. The game was the first ever top-flight clash between the clubs.
PSG have failed so far to develop a winning mentality in Europe. Home; News. Ligue 1 dominance cannot mask PSG's European failure. cannot soothe the pain felt by fans at seeing their
Marijuana and Pain | Marijuana As Medicine?: The Science
Football News -LONDON (AFP, REUTERS) - When teenager Rayan Clarke rolled a pass off the centre spot at Tottenham Hotspur's gleaming new stadium on Sunday (March 24) it kicked off a new chapter for
New chapter for Tottenham as stadium hosts 1st game | Free
Arsenal close to first summer signing as Italian reporter reveals all on 'advanced talks' ARSENAL are in "advanced talks" to sign former Atletico Madrid winger Yannick Carrasco from Chinese
Queiroz livid despite rout. Print Email Iran coach Carlos Queiroz blasted his critics after his side crushed Yemen 5-0 on Monday to fire an ominous warning to
Carlos Queiroz - Wikipedia
SINGAPORE — Almost seven months after a historic election marked by high drama, the dust has settled and the newly-elected Football Association of Singapore (FAS) Council has gone about its work
New FAS technical director aims to awake 'sleeping giant'
Spurs are back in Champions League action at Wembley on Wednesday. Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino says he is "a little disappointed" with the Premier League for making his side play on Sunday
Spurs' Pochettino: I made difficult choice to turn down Real
global.espn.com/football/tottenham-hotspur/story/3846455/spurs-pochettino-i-made-difficult-choice-to-turn-down-real-madrid
Pochettino's side defeated Ajax Amsterdam 3-2 (3-3 on aggregate) in dramatic fashion on Wednesday in their Champions League semifinal second leg, advancing to the June 1 final in Madrid against Liverpool, but the Argentine said he had the chance to move to the Spanish capital permanently.
'Pochettino could be a United manager' - Berbatov - goal.com
Gotze predicts Borussia Dortmund success in Champions League despite 'very difficult' group Borussia Dortmund did not make it through the Champions League group stage last term, but Mario Gotze
Gotze predicts Borussia Dortmund success in Champions League
0 comments:
Post a Comment