First-half goals enough to beat Newcastle - report and reaction

Goals from Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son saw us to a 3-2 victory at Newcastle United on Sunday.

Having fallen behind to an early Callum Wilson effort as the home side welcomed in a new era off the pitch, we swiftly turned the game around when Ndombele hammered into the top corner before Kane chipped advancing goalkeeper Karl Darlow to make it 2-1 just moments later. Kane was initially flagged offside but a VAR inspection confirmed that he was onside and the goal stood.

Events took a difficult turn when the match was suspended for some time due to a medical emergency in the East Stand - having initially paused play, referee Andre Marriner ushered both teams off the pitch and the players remained in the changing rooms for a short while before returning to play the remaining seven minutes of the first half, during which Son swept Kane's low cross into the net to further extend our lead.

The atmosphere had been crackling at kick-off following Newcastle's recent takeover but understandably the feeling inside St James' Park was subdued following the incident in the stands and matters got worse for the hosts when substitute Jonjo Shelvey collected two bookings inside five minutes and received his marching orders, forcing his side to play the last seven minutes with 10 men.

Having passed the ball around with confidence for much of the second period, we gifted Newcastle a lifeline on 89 minutes when Dier accidentally diverted Jacob Murphy's free-kick into our net, but in truth we never looked in any further danger and saw the game out to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League.

Unchanged side proves too strong for hosts

Nuno Espirito Santo went with the same starting XI that beat Aston Villa in our last game before the international break, with Emerson Royal and Cristian Romero lining up in the back four despite playing in South America for their respective countries in the early hours of Friday morning.

We conceded inside two minutes as Wilson capitalised on the buoyant atmosphere inside the ground generated by the introduction before kick-off of the Magpies' new chairman, the striker glancing in Javier Manquillo's right-wing cross, but the hosts' momentum soon fizzled out with Ndombele blasting in a 17th-minute equaliser after hard-working left-back Sergio Reguilon picked him out on the edge of the area. Five minutes later the game had been completely turned on its head as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's pass from deep allowed Kane to clip the ball over Darlow for his first Premier League goal of the season. The goal was initially ruled out for offside but referee Marriner waited for VAR to take a look before signalling that it would stand.

Newcastle almost found a response when Wilson slid the ball across to the far post for the arriving Allan Saint-Maximin, but he couldn't quite connect as he slid in and we escaped. At the other end, Lucas' header from Son's corner hit the crossbar, but the game was subsequently called to a halt as supporters, players and officials acted quickly to facilitate the treatment of a supporter in the Magpies' East Stand. Newcastle staff later indicated the fan in question had been stabilised and was on the way to hospital. Of course, we send our best wishes.

With seven minutes of the first half still to play, we pressed on and found a third goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time as Lucas sent Kane towards the byline on the right and his cross was swept in by Son at the far post. Wilson and Saint-Maximin tried to mount a response for Newcastle, but we retained the upper hand going into the second half, largely keeping the ball away from the home side and winning a handful of corners, albeit without really troubling Darlow.

Ndombele fired marginally over from the edge of the box and was later fouled by Shelvey, who was booked on 78 minutes - five minutes later the Newcastle man was sent off as he took down Reguilon on the break, collecting a second yellow card. In between, Ryan Fraser's volley was well blocked by Dier, but the defender was the unfortunate man to divert Murphy's free-kick into our net with a minute of normal time remaining. Thankfully, we stayed in control to collect three deserved points.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'We worked hard off the ball'

Head Coach Nuno said: “It was good, but we didn’t start well. We lose a little bit of possession and allowed Newcastle to use the atmosphere, then they are motivated, but we reacted well, and that’s something we’re improving on. We played so good, we played really, really good football.

“In the first half, the chances we had, the way we broke... in the second half, the lines of possession, we worked hard off the ball, didn’t allow anything to Newcastle. Unfortunately, in the end they had the goal that came from nothing, but the way we controlled the game, the work... really good.”

Match data

Goals: Newcastle - Wilson 2, Dier (OG) 89; Spurs - Ndombele 17, Kane 22, Son 45+4.

Yellow cards: Newcastle - Longstaff 34, Clark 54, Hayden 68, Shelvey 78, 83, Joelinton 90+4; Spurs - Royal 64.

Red card: Newcastle - Shelvey 83.

Referee: Andre Marriner.

Venue: St James' Park, Newcastle.

Weather: Light cloud, light winds, 15 degrees.