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
Qatar's Asian Cup heroes rewarded with lavish gifts Young fans taking photos with Qatar forward and 2019 Asian Cup Most Valuable Player Almoez Ali at Doha International airport, as Qataris welcome
Qatar's Asian Cup heroes rewarded with lavish gifts | World
worldsportstale.com/soccer/qatars-asian-cup-heroes-rewarded-with-lavish-gifts/
02/09/2019 Comments Off on Qatar's Asian Cup heroes rewarded with lavish gifts •DOHA • These are heady times for the Qatar national football team. On the back of winning their first Asian Cup last Friday, Felix Sanchez's men have risen 38 places to 55th in the latest Fifa world rankings released yesterday.
Latest QATAR | The Straits Times
Football: Kedah-bound national defender Shakir Hamzah
Football: United confirm huge Mourinho payoff; 'Class of 92' coach Harrison dies aged 81. The sacking of Jose Mourinho cost Manchester United nearly £20 million (S$34.8 million), the club
Latest JOSE MOURINHO | The Straits Times
Ikhsan goes for trial in Norway, Football News & Top Stories
Soccer Football - International Friendly - Germany v Serbia - Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, Germany - March 20, 2019 Germany's Marco Reus in action with Serbia's Marko Dmitrovic REUTERS/Fabian Bimme
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 17, 2019, with the headline 'Son helps South Korea to win Asian Cup group'.
Son Heung-min helps South Korea beat China 2-0 at Asian Cup
Man City set to be hit with transfer ban for two windows within days. Fifa are poised to confirm the Etihad outfit are the next club to be found guilty of breaching rules on the transfers of minors.
Man City face FIFA transfer ban: report - msn.com
Football. Crowds flock to Argentine village to pay tribute to footballer Sala. "We all carry Emi in our hearts," said Mayor Julio Muller in an emotional tribute. Sala had played for Nantes
Crowds flock to Argentine village to pay tribute to
yankeesunscripted.com/2019/02/18/crowds-flock-to-argentine-village-to-pay-tribute-to.html
Sala was the best-known figure from Progreso, a town of several thousand inhabitants in Argentina's Santa Fe province, and was adored by many. Sala's father, Horacio, was devastated by his son's death, family members said, and refused for days to leave his home. This was to enable friends and family to pay their last respects.
'Once levels fall below 500 pg/ml (picograms per millilitre — the normal range being 500 to 1,000), the brain starts to deteriorate at twice the usual rate, making memory loss six times more
WOLVERHAMPTON, England, (Reuters) - Wolverhampton Wanderers reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1998 by beating last year's runners-up Manchester United 2-1 with a clinical
Football: Jimenez, Jota slay Man United as Wolves reach FA
FAS technical director hopeful Sigurdur Ragnar Eyjolfsson says Iceland can be model for Singapore With a population of less than 350,000, Iceland's meteoric rise in football has drawn questions here as to why Singapore cannot follow suit, with both nations hemmed in by limited human resources.
Football: New FAS technical director Joseph Palatsides
Soccer Football - La Liga Santander - FC Barcelona v Real Sociedad - Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain - April 20, 2019 Barcelona's Clement Lenglet scores their first goal REUTERS/Albert Gea
Barca put one hand on title after edging past Sociedad - rte.ie
Hugo Lloris believes that Tottenham Hotspur will face the most in-form team in the Premier League when they go up against Liverpool at Anfield. The North London outfit travel to Merseyside on the
Hugo Lloris fears Tottenham may have to WIN Champions League
Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur recently revealed that they are going to Singapore and Shanghai during the summer as they prepare for the 2019-20 campaign. According to the club website
Tottenham confirms Singapore stop during pre-season tour
0 comments:
Post a Comment