Newcastle United maintained their winning ways with another away win against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon thanks to goals from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.
It was a strange game in many ways as the game ebbed and flowed until the final whistle which came after 107 minutes of play when totting up all the stoppage time in each half.
Spurs took an early lead as Dominic Solanke took full advantage a rusty Sven Botman with the Dutchman making his first Premier League start since March.
It was a bit of a wakeup call for the Newcastle defender who had to adapt quickly in his first game back after ACL surgery.
Overall, though, we think Botman did pretty well all things considered, but Eddie Howe would take that a step further in his post-match interview for the Newcastle United website, hailing the 24-year-old as 'magnificent'.
"We have Sven Botman's return. I thought he was magnificent when you consider how long he's been out and that he was playing on the different side of the pitch. Really happy for him.
"I think when you miss a player like Fabian [Schar] and his vast experience and his qualities that you're able to bring someone of Sven's qualities in, I think the players really appreciate his quality, of course, his mental strength as well, it's huge for the back line. I think they need to have confidence in each other and they've been performing really well together as a unit and it was great to see that continue today."
Botman seemed to cramp up late in the game which is to be expected, but we imagine that he'll be fit enough to return to action again on Tuesday night at the Emirates as Newcastle take on Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.
Once again Fabian Schar will be suspended, and after seeing Dan Burn and Botman work well together against Spurs, we expect that Howe will want to stick with the duo for Arsenal.
Hopefully, Newcastle can ride the wave of confidence through this semi-final and book another date at Wembley.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
![]() |
27 | 38 | 64 |
2 |
![]() |
26 | 28 | 53 |
3 |
![]() |
26 | 11 | 47 |
4 |
![]() |
26 | 15 | 44 |
5 |
![]() |
26 | 10 | 44 |
6 |
![]() |
26 | 14 | 43 |
7 |
![]() |
26 | 12 | 43 |
8 |
![]() |
27 | -2 | 42 |
9 |
![]() |
26 | 4 | 40 |
10 |
![]() |
26 | 3 | 39 |
11 |
![]() |
26 | 5 | 37 |
12 |
![]() |
26 | 15 | 33 |
13 |
![]() |
26 | -1 | 33 |
14 |
![]() |
26 | -4 | 31 |
15 |
![]() |
26 | -7 | 30 |
16 |
![]() |
26 | -17 | 30 |
17 |
![]() |
26 | -18 | 22 |
18 |
![]() |
26 | -30 | 17 |
19 |
![]() |
26 | -34 | 17 |
20 |
![]() |
26 | -42 | 9 |