 |
| Newcastle paid £40m to buy Brazilian striker Joelinton from Hoffenheim in July |
Club record signing Joelinton’s first goal in English football gave Newcastle United a surprise win at Tottenham – and Steve Bruce his first points as their manager.
The Brazilian striker took advantage of sleepy Tottenham defending to control substitute Christian Atsu’s through pass beautifully before drilling past Hugo Lloris.
Atsu, sent on after Allan Saint-Maximin had to go off with an early hamstring injury, provided the assist with his first significant contribution.
Spurs lacked the creativity to break down a resolute Newcastle side, whose four-man midfield spent a large chunk of the contest sitting deep in front of a back five.
Son Heung-min, making his first Tottenham appearance of the season after completing a three-match suspension, saw a bouncing first-half volley beaten away by Martin Dubravka, then rolled a shot wide shortly before the interval.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino sent on Christian Eriksen and Giovani lo Celso for the final half-hour in an attempt to salvage something from the 500th match of his managerial career.
It almost worked: Lo Celso’s pass for Harry Kane ended with the England captain falling under Jamaal Lascelles’ challenge – but Mike Dean ruled it was not a penalty, and was backed up by the check from video assistant referee Anthony Taylor.
Then Eriksen’s superb diagonal pass gave Moussa Sissoko the room to cross low, but Lucas Moura skied his shot over the bar from around eight yards.
