HEUNG-MIN Son had a goal and two assists and Richarlison scored two goals as Tottenham worked over weary Newcastle 4-1 in a match-up of two of the Premier League’s most injury-stricken sides on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Destiny Udogie opened the scoring for Spurs, who remained without James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, and Rodrigo Betancur but had little trouble against a team in even worse shape.
Joelinton scored in stoppage time for Newcastle to ruin Guglielmo Vicario’s clean sheet.
The Magpies welcomed Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff back off the bench but have been using the same XI for weeks and added goalkeeper Nick Pope to the injured list this week. Newcastle regulars Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Joe Willock, Jacub Murphy, and Harvey Barnes are all out through injuries, while Sandro Tonali’s suspended for the season.
Spurs ended a five-match winless run which included four losses and claimed their 30th point, three back of fourth-place Manchester City. Newcastle’s 26 points sit them seventh, above Brighton on goal differential.
The home crowd and weary opponent made for a much-needed win and seized opportunity by Ange Postecoglou’s men.
Son was buzzing from the opening whistle and has become the club’s talisman, his ever-present energy keeping the team in every single game.
That wasn’t even needed on Sunday, as Brennan Johnson joined Richarlison in running all over a Magpies team that needs a break and instead has to rally to save its Champions League hopes in midweek.
And so it wasn’t a surprise when the second, third, and fourth goals went into Martin Dubravka’s goal on Sunday, a sort of turn-about is fair play for the Magpies demolition of Spurs last season.