After the fallout from failing to secure a club-record signing this week, the lad who holds that label had to remind people why keeping him is Newcastle’s smartest move this summer.
Tottenham were terribly unlucky not to win, but they don’t have a striker. Newcastle do, and Alexander Isak made the difference. The £63m Swede was not at his best and was not having a particularly good afternoon.
But he was there to score the winner, there in the six-yard box, there to bring calm after perhaps the most turbulent 48 hours under Saudi rule. Spurs had launched a succession of balls across the goalmouth with no one to finish them off.
Indeed, both of Newcastle’s goals came at times when the visitors were dominating the game. Harvey Barnes gave them the lead in the first half, but Dan Burn’s own goal deservedly equalised for Spurs before the hour mark.
Ange Postecoglou’s team had the best chance of winning from that point on. They would have won with a centre forward.
Alexander Isak scored a 78th-minute goal against the game to give Newcastle three points
Newcastle striker Isak (right) fired into an empty net after a rare Magpies breakaway
The Magpies claimed three points after withstanding pressure from Tottenham throughout the second half.
And so when Newcastle took the field in the 78th minute, it was inevitable that Spurs would be punished.
Joelinton broke free from James Maddison and released Jacob Murphy. He could have taken a shot, but instead he passed to Isak. It was a simple finish, but the simple is just as rewarding as the complicated.
The win leaves Eddie Howe’s side fourth in the table, and they will do so after a transfer window that closed amid the failure to sign defender Marc Guehi for £70m from Crystal Palace.
Howe was left frustrated and doubts were raised about new sporting director Paul Mitchell and chief executive Darren Eales. But this seemed to be the kind of boisterous occasion Newcastle needed.
Noise, wind, rain, irritation in the air. Even the floodlights were on from the start and the hosts got off to a brilliant start.
It wasn’t exactly the same start as two seasons ago, when they went 3-0 up in nine minutes against the same opponent, but they were attacking, aggressive and moved to the rhythm of the crowd.
Isak took possession from Son Heung-min in the fifth minute and fired a beautiful shot from a tight angle that grazed the bar.
Barnes then shaved the post with his trademark shot after cutting inside and a block in the area was needed to deny defender Emil Krafth an unlikely goal.
Newcastle striker Harvey Barnes opened the scoring with a brilliant finish in the 37th minute of the match.
Centre-back Dan Burn scored the second goal of the match, but unfortunately it was into his own net.
Spurs defender Radu Dragusin replaced Mickey Van de Ven at centre-back on Sunday
Newcastle full-back Tino Livaremento managed to nullify Tottenham’s threat down the flanks
Everything was going well until an injury occurred. This time it was not a Newcastle player, but assistant referee Ian Hussin, who had to leave the match due to a muscle problem and a five-minute stoppage that broke the home team’s rhythm and, apparently, their concentration.
When play resumed, Newcastle had passed control to Tottenham, who were still in control when Newcastle took the lead in the 37th minute.
Burn would normally find himself on the edge of a throw-in, but in this case it was his quick pass from the left that freed Lloyd Kelly. He moved across for Barnes and the winger’s first-time finish was just short of goal enough to see the ball slip past the leaping Guglielmo Vicario.
Was it the trigger for a home improvement? Not really. After that bright start, the lights went out.
Howe and assistant Jason Tindall were already discussing changes when Spurs equalised in the 56th minute.
Earlier, in the minutes after the break, Son, Wilson Odobert and Pedro Porro came close to equalising, but in the end it was Burn who scored an own goal.
Newcastle welcomed Sandro Tonali back after the Italian returned from a 10-month suspension
Tonali, 24, valued at £58.9m, was banned in October 2023 for breaching Fifa betting rules.
The result will be the perfect tonic for Newcastle manager Eddie Howe after a frustrating end to the transfer window which saw the Magpies bring in very little new talent.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou will rue his side’s failure to convert second-half dominance into more goals, with the club yet to win away from home this season.
Nick Pope has been called up to the England squad this week, and he made a number of brilliant saves, but his involvement in this goal was not international standard.
James Maddison’s low shot should have been caught rather than deflected and, as Brennan Johnson pushed forward to shoot towards goal, it was saved by Pope’s arm but Burn headed it in from the goal-line.
The Newcastle goalkeeper then went a long way towards redemption with spectacular saves from Maddison and Porro, and without them the victory would not have been possible.
