On his return from suspension, Captain Cristian Romero equalised for Tottenham on two occasions to ensure a point away to Newcastle.
Coming into this one on the back of three straight defeats, a draw away at Newcastle will have eased a bit of the pressure on Thomas Frank, who has been under scrutiny from Spurs supporters in recent weeks.
The two sides had already met in the Carabao Cup just over a month ago, when Newcastle ran out comfortable 2-0 winners against a much-rotated Tottenham side.
One of the few positives from that cup tie, Xavi Simons, was once again left on the bench, concerningly for the fourth match running. Micky van de Ven and Richarlison started among the substitutes, as Frank described it, ‘managing their minutes’.
First half: Newcastle 0-0 Tottenham
Tottenham started in a sloppy fashion, struggling to keep hold of the ball and often losing possession before they could string together anything meaningful.
Newcastle took advantage of that uncertainty as Lewis Hall drifted a shot just wide early on, followed soon after by Nick Woltemade heading over from Jacob Murphy’s cross.
Scorer and assister for Newcastle at the weekend, Lewis Miley then tested Guglielmo Vicario with a powerful strike after Harvey Barnes drove forward from the left and slipped him in.
However, Newcastle’s best moment of the half came when Tino Livramento threaded a well-timed reverse pass into the box for Joelinton, who met it first time and sent it across goal from a very tight angle, but the far post kept Spurs alive.
Tottenham barely created anything of note until the final minutes of the half, when Lucas Bergvall flicked Mohammed Kudus’ cross with a back-heel that looped narrowly over the bar.
Second half: Newcastle 2-2 Tottenham
Newcastle made one change at the interval and immediately went close. Vicario denied Barnes at his near post, and Woltemade’s follow-up header had to be cleared off the line by Kevin Danso.
Brennan Johnson then made another crucial goal-line clearance when Livramento connected with a half volley from distance.
With Newcastle piling on the pressure, the breakthrough finally arrived. Woltemade held the ball up well before teeing up Bruno Guimaraes for a first-time strike that flew past Vicario from distance.
Tottenham, despite offering very little in the second half, hit back quickly. From a cleared corner, Romero stayed inside the Newcastle box and was rewarded when Mohammed Kudus‘ cross found him, and he met it with a powerful diving header that crept into the bottom corner..
Newcastle were then gifted a controversial late penalty when VAR sent referee Tom Bramall to the monitor to review what looked like a tangle between Rodrigo Bentancur and Dan Burn. Despite Burn also having Bentancur in a headlock, the decision went against Spurs. Anthony Gordon stepped up and sent Vicario the wrong way for 2-1.
That decision meant 9 minutes of added time, which proved enough for Tottenham to strike back once more. From a corner taken by Mathys Tel, Aaron Ramsdale’s punch fell awkwardly inside the box, and Romero reacted with a well-placed overhead kick that caught Newcastle’s defence off guard and found the bottom corner.
Romero celebrated by copying Guimaraes’ celebration, which clearly irritated the Newcastle captain and sparked a small scruffle at full-time.
FT: NEWCASTLE UNITED 2-2 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Spurs Web man of the match: Cristian Romero
What’s next for Spurs?
As unfair as the penalty felt, Spurs supporters will still take comfort from avoiding a fourth straight defeat, although this result means it is just 2 points from the last 5 matches.
Creativity remains the biggest issue in this side, and leaving Xavi Simons out of the starting line-up for a fourth consecutive match has done little to fix it. At this point, the sample size is big enough to show that no one else in midfield is providing the creative threat the team desperately needs.
A big positive for Tottenham was that their captain stepped up when nobody else did, and the fact that two centre-backs in Romero and Van de Ven, have been more clinical up front than the forwards says everything about Spurs’ season so far.
Another uplifting moment came when the away end sang Vicario’s name, especially after he was left disappointed by the boos he received for his high-profile error against Fulham.
Tottenham will hope to finally end their winless run when Thomas Frank faces his former employer, Brentford, on Saturday.