Tottenham produced an impressive performance with 10 men to beat Newcastle 2-0 and climb to fourth.
Ten-man Tottenham go fourth with 2-0 win over Magpies
Tottenham produced an impressive performance with 10 men for the second time in three days to beat Newcastle 2-0 at White Hart Lane and go fourth in the Premier League.
The Magpies got their strategy right in the first half as they absorbed long periods of Spurs possession without looking in much trouble, while Andy Carroll posed some problems at the other end with his strength.
But they only went into the interval on level terms thanks to a magnificent save from Tim Krul, who got down acrobatically to his left to push a Roman Pavlyuchenko header against his post and then turned to see the ball roll across goal and strike the opposite upright.
Krul was eventually beaten 12 minutes into the second period, though, when Aaron Lennon fired a terrific shot into the far bottom corner after bursting into the area down the right.
Newcastle were given renewed hope moments later when Younes Kaboul was sent off for pushing his head towards Cheick Tiote, but Spurs remained firmly in control.
Any chance of a fightback then disappeared nine minutes from time as a trademark Tottenham break resulted in Gareth Bale driving in another fabulous finish.
Bright start
The hosts, who had Pavlyuchenko up front in place of the suspended Jermain Defoe, started brightly and Lennon registered the first shot on target after firing a low drive at Krul two minutes in.
Carroll, a reported transfer target for Spurs, made his physical presence felt up front but the hosts looked more dangerous early on, with Rafael Van der Vaart, Lennon and Luka Modric the main threats up front.
Michael Dawson was next to feel the full force of Carroll's hulking frame when he fell to the turf clutching his shoulder after going up for a header before he picked himself up and carried on.
Carroll had his first effort 25 minutes in when he twisted his body to meet Jonas Gutierrez's cross but his header fell onto the roof of the net.
Bale, who had a quiet start, then burst into life by capitalising on Danny Simpson's mistake to race past Alan Smith and Fabricio Coloccini into the box - but the former Leeds man scrambled back to block the Welshman's six-yard shot.
Joey Barton, captaining the side in Kevin Nolan's absence, clattered into the back of Bale and was furious with the referee's decision to award a free-kick.
Krul reacted well to tip over a Van der Vaart curler from the resulting free-kick just before a Wilson Palacios mistake allowed Tiote to fire a weak shot at Gomes with half an hour gone.
Tiote then entered the book for claiming that Van der Vaart had dived in the box as the match started to become ill-tempered.
A second error from Palacios allowed Carroll to break free before the Honduran brought the striker down from behind, earning him a booking.
Pavlyuchenko powered an effort towards goal but Krul pushed the ball onto his left-hand post before the ball ricocheted off the other stanchion and rolled out to safety.
Palacios paid the price for his sub-par first half and was replaced by former Newcastle man Jermaine Jenas at the break.
Battle
Van der Vaart almost gave the home side the lead when he flashed a curling shot over Krul but luckily for the away side, the ball fell just wide of the Newcastle goal.
The Dawson-Carroll battle resumed three minutes into the second half, with the striker requiring treatment after going up for a header.
Both Kaboul and Gutierrez were booked for fouls on Barton and Lennon respectively as the game threatened to boil over.
Spurs broke the deadlock in the 57th minute when Lennon raced down the right and beat Krul with a low drive from inside the box after being given space by James Perch.
Smith became the fifth person to be booked when he hacked down Bale on the touchline.
Tiote, who was lucky not to receive a second yellow for a foul on Modric, then squared up to Kaboul after the midfielder slid in to tackle the defender.
The former Pompey man forced his head forward onto Tiote's and although not a clear head-butt, was enough to persuade referee Anthony Taylor to send Kaboul off, much to the disapproval of the Spurs bench.
The dismissal caused Harry Redknapp to bring off Pavlyuchenko for Sebastien Bassong while Alan Pardew sought to push home Newcastle's numerical advantage by introducing striker Nile Ranger for Gutierrez.
Peter Crouch then came on for Van der Vaart as Spurs faced up to closing the match out with 10 men as they did against Aston Villa two days ago.
Jenas then released Lennon down the right but the England winger shot just wide, before Tiote was replaced by Peter Lovenkrands.
Any hopes of a Newcastle comeback were extinguished with nine minutes left when Modric broke over the halfway line before finding Bale on the left wing.
The Welshman accelerated past Steven Taylor before smashing a low angled drive past Krul for his 10th of the season.
Carroll was booked in the closing stages for a foul on Gomes as Newcastle's challenge petered out.
| Tottenham Hotspur |
Team Statistics |
Newcastle United |
| 2 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 8 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 9 |
Corners |
7 |
| 9 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 5 |
Offsides |
3 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
4 |
| 1 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 77.3 |
Passing Success |
70 |
| 17 |
Tackles |
19 |
| 76.5 |
Tackles Success |
84.2 |
| 55 |
Possession |
45 |
| 43.6 |
Territorial Advantage |
56.4 |
|
