The Newcastle faithful celebrated the departure of Mike Ashley and welcomed the new regime. Present in the spectator box were parts of the new ownership group along with several celebrity Newcastle United fans. Steve Bruce retained his place in the dugout for the game, celebrating his 1000th appearance as a manager despite calls for his sacking growing louder by the day.
The manager was given a respite within the first couple of minutes of the match when the returning Callum Wilson put the Magpies ahead with a stunning, diving header. However, Newcastle’s perfect day quickly turned sour, as Tottenham Hotspur equalized fifteen minutes later. Tanguy Ndombele scored the leveller, blasting the ball past Karl Darlow from inside the box after collecting a pass from left-back Sergio Reguilon.
Tottenham then took the lead through Harry Kane’s first goal of the new league season – bringing quiet inside the stadium. The Englishman bent his run to perfection to latch onto a long pass from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg before lifting the ball over Darlow. The goal was checked – and subsequently, overturned – by the VAR as the linesman had initially flagged it offside.
The referee stopped the play in the 41st minute after Reguilon flagged a supporter in need of medical assistance. The fan received the necessary attention and was shifted to the hospital before play resumed.
Spurs did not let the break in play affect their momentum; they scored their third before the break through Son Heung–min, who finished from close range after Kane unselfishly rolled the ball to him in a 2-v-1 situation with the goalkeeper.
Things got worse for Newcastle before they got better, as the Magpies had substitute Jonjo Shelvey sent off for two cynical fouls. They did manage to pull one back late on when Eric Dier inadvertently headed past his goalkeeper, but it was too little, too late. A momentous day for Newcastle ended in despair as the Magpies remained in the relegation zone.
