Tottenham exorcise Newcastle demons: Spurs player ratings

Tottenham needed a healthy win over Newcastle

Let’s be honest here, Tottenham couldn’t afford to suffer a loss at Newcastle on Sunday. Spurs needed a convincing win over the Magpies to erase the horrible memories of the 5-1 debacle two years ago. Fortunately, Jonjo Shelvey’s red card made things pretty easy on Mauricio Pochettino’s squad in the second half.

Tottenham also needed a victory to distract everyone associated with the club from Danny Rose’s unfortunate comments earlier in the week. Spurs just needed some old-fashioned good news. A relatively comfortable 2-0 win away from home certainly did a lot to lift the spirits of everyone at the club.

It’s difficult to pick out too many sub-standard performances on the afternoon, but there were a few hidden away among the Spurs squad. You’ll have to read on to suss out who failed to meet the standard of play on the afternoon.

On the other hand, it was quite clear that several of Pochettino’s stars elected to go above and beyond against Benitez’s squad. In fact, it was the stellar play of both fullbacks that really allowed Tottenham to gain control of the match. Needless to say that wasn’t something anyone expected to happen heading into the encounter.

Without further delay, read on to discover which Spurs stars stood out against the Magpies, and which stars might find themselves on the bench this week against Chelsea.