Isak Hits Brace As Newcastle Beat Tottenham

Alexander Isak’s rich goalscoring form at St James’ Park continued as Newcastle beat Tottenham to boost their hopes of European football next season.

Isak produced two clinical finishes to score in each half as he netted on home turf for the sixth consecutive match.

The striker now has 17 goals in 24 Premier League appearances this season.

Anthony Gordan and Fabian Schar were also on target for the Magpies, while Timo Werner had two chances for Spurs but his finishing let him down.

Spurs dropped to fifth below Aston Villa on goal difference.

Isak may have the number 14 emblazoned on the back of his shirt, but the Sweden striker is cut from the same cloth as names typically associated with the fabled number nine.

In the Premier League era, only two men have scored in more successive games than Isak – Shearer (15) and Cole (eight) – to underline why he will quickly establish himself as a hero on Tyneside.

The double he scored in this one-sided victory over Spurs underlined his finishing prowess as Newcastle left the visitors dazed in the spring sunshine.

Isak opened the scoring after he received the ball from Gordon, cut inside, and then powerfully struck a low shot into the corner of the net.

Gordon added a second after he latched on to Pedro Porro’s miscued clearance before Isak effectively made the points safe after the interval.

The 24-year-old initially looked to be offside when he burst through on goal, opened up his body and steered the ball past Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

But Isak had timed his run, from inside his own half, to perfection before he produced an ice-cool finish.

A hat-trick evaded Isak – Schar added a fourth with a header from a Gordon corner – but he was firmly the name on the lips of those streaming out of the Gallowgate End at the full-time whistle.

Tottenham had failed to find the net in only one of their past 43 league matches before this encounter.

There was a lot of promise in patches of their attacking play in the opening third of the game.

Newcastle’s defenders did a fine job of stymying the effectiveness of Son Heung-min, which left a player with 15 goals and nine assists this season a peripheral figure.

However, two fine chances did come the way of German forward Werner in the first half when the match was still a contest.

Werner lifted a volley high over the crossbar from Brennan Johnson’s cross when he might have been better placed to head the ball.

The 28-year-old on loan with Spurs from RB Leipzig also scuffed a shot inside the penalty area when well placed.

Failure to capitalise on their chances, and some slipshod defending, resulted in a chastening defeat for Tottenham.

It was undoubtedly a setback for their Champions League hopes, even if manager Ange Postecoglou has been doing much to play down expectations.

With Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City to play in four of their next five games, Spurs need to be more clinical to finish in the top four.