It’s happened again. Newcastle United thrashing Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park, it’s becoming a bit of a theme!
Some could argue that the 4-0 win on Saturday was better than the beating they gave out last season because of both teams’ situation.
Tottenham are a far better team now, pushing for Champions League football, whilst Newcastle United are, not just further behind, but also severely depleted because of injuries.
When Jacob Murphy and Emil Krafth are making up half of your backline, then you know you have had to dig deep into the bread basket.
That’s why Newcastle’s performance against Spurs was one of the best under Eddie Howe and a boost to their hopes of securing Europa League football.
One man who has been a non-stop engine for the Magpies has been Anthony Gordon – he scored and assisted twice on Saturday, including ripping Micky van de Ven apart.
Alan Shearer stated that he was ‘brilliant’, but was also sure to do something that he hardly ever does, as he told Premier League Productions (13/04/24 at 2:40 pm).
The legendary striker stated that he is ‘very reluctant’ to praise a player for his workrate.
But given the energy the Euro 2024 hopeful provides without the ball, Shearer just had to give Gordon his flowers and how he is ‘exceptional’ at it.
Anthony Gordon’s workrate
“He has been brilliant,” said Shearer. “His goals are superb, but I think his attitude. I am always very reluctant to praise players’ workrate and commitment because it should be a given.
“But his is exceptional. He sets the tone for Newcastle when they press. He is the trigger. When he goes, everyone has to go. He has so much energy.”
Newcastle United in Europe
It wasn’t so long ago that Newcastle fans were probably fearing that they wouldn’t even secure Europe this season.
From defensive errors, a lack of clean sheets and injuries galore. It was all going wrong for the team.
But that’s back-to-back clean sheets and wins for the team, which places them sixth in the Premier League table ten points behind Tottenham and Aston Villa.
More than likely, that’s out of the picture, but what isn’t is finishing above Man United and securing a place in the Europa League.
Erik ten Hag watched his team drop more points on Saturday – a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth – and they are now seventh and looking over their shoulder at the chasing pack.
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