Dele Alli and Ben Davies secured a 2-0 victory for Tottenham on the opening weekend as Newcastle were left counting the cost from an act of spectacular stupidity by Jonjo Shelvey.
Newcastle’s captain saw red three minutes into the second half for an off-the-ball stamp on Alli, immediately undoing an impressive opening half in which the newly-promoted Magpies had nullified last season’s top scorers with ease.
After a year away from the top flight the St James’ Park faithful might have been entitled to ask what all the fuss was about after a tepid 45 minutes where Tottenham offered little beyond the threat of injury to the Magpies backline.
Newcastle lost two defenders – Paul Dummett and Florian Lejeune – to injury before the half was out. A challenge on the latter ought to have seen Harry Kane even more harshly sanctioned than the yellow he received.
Yet it was Tottenham who seemed worse off for absent defenders, with the absence of the injured Danny Rose and £50million Manchester City right-back Kyle Walker keenly felt.
Without their flying full-backs Spurs’ attack lacked any bite, even as debutant Kyle Walker-Peters put in a hard-working display on debut. Christian Eriksen and Moussa Sissoko drifted infield but there was no-one on the overlap to stretch Newcastle out of shape.
That meant the Tottenham’s attack dissolved to little more than Eriksen pot-shots, only one of which on 26 minutes offered a feasible threat to Rob Elliot’s goal even as it flashed wide of the far post.
With the hosts holding on manfully their rearguard was harmed no end by the immaturity of captain Shelvey, who having come off the better from a challenge with Alli chose to tamp on his opponent’s ankle three minutes into the second half.
Immediately the game became stretched, Dwight Gayle and Harry Kane volleying at their opposing goalkeepers from close range in a matter of moments.
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The Magpies’ resistance could not last. Eriksen was left in space outside the area and on this occasion he looked for a team-mate’s run rather than a shot. The delivery was exceptional, requiring Alli only to make enough contact on the ball to divert it past Elliot.
After an obdurate hour on the defence the 10-men of Newcastle were shattered and it was not long before Ben Davies found himself slotting home after delicate combination play between Kane, Alli and Eriksen.
Newcastle had not been neutered when they went down to 10 men in their last Premier League match, the 5-1 win over Spurs in May 2016, and Christian Atsu continued to probe down the left. But it was not enough and the Magpies were left to wonder what might have been had their captain not proven to be such an inadequate leader.
