Tottenham Hotspur kicked off their Premier League campaign win a comfortable 2-0 against Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle. Pochettino’s men did not have to break a sweat during the match especially after Jonjo Shelvey was sent off by the referee because of a cheeky stamp on Dele Alli.
Shelvey was sent off within minutes of the start of the second half and Pochettino’s men lost no time in upping the ante. The North London outfit went ahead in the 61st minute thanks to Alli who sneaked into the box and put Eriksen’s low centre into the back of the net. Spurs doubled their lead 8 minutes later and this time it was Ben Davies who added his name onto the scoresheet.
We take a look at the Tottenham players’ ratings vs Newcastle United:
Hugo Lloris: 6.5/10
Was a mere spectator for most of the match. Came out of his line and averted any sort of danger during the early stages but other than that he had nothing much to do.
Kyle Walker-Peters: 7.5/10
Came into the side to replace the injured Kieran Trippier and did a fantastic job. Was solid in his defensive duties and kept Christian Atsu at bay.
Ben Davies: 7/10
Other than scoring the goal he had no significant contribution in the match. More so because most of the action was taking place on the other flank.
Jan Vertonghen: 6.5/10
A quiet night for another Spurs player. After the sending off of Shelvey, Vertoghen did not have anything to do other than spread the ball forward.
Toby Alderweireld: 7/10
Handed Dwight Gayle quite comfortably but once Shelvey went off, he too got much more relaxed.
Eric Dier: 7.5/10
Was a perfect partner to Dembele at the heart of midfield. Distributed the ball well and was solid defensively whenever called upon.
Read: Chelsea players’ ratings vs Burnley.
Mousa Dembele: 8/10
Easily one of the better player for Spurs on the night. The Belgian had a 97 % successful passing rate which also speaks volumes of his performance. And add to that the fact that he was dispossessed only once during the whole match.
Christian Eriksen: 8.5/10
Showed what he was capable of, especially when going into those forward runs. He ended the match with two assists against his name. Man of the match performance.
Moussa Sissoko: 6.5/10
His return to St James’ Park was hostile to say the very least. He was booed by the home crowd for almost every touch he had but that did not stop Sissoko from pulling out a rock solid performance.
Dele Alli: 8/10
Scored the first goal for Spurs with a perfectly timed run into the box and had a few other attacking contributions. Alli was also on the receiving end of the challenge which saw Shelvey being shown a red card.
Harry Kane: 6.5/10
A bit of a frustrating night for the English International as per his standards. Had one great chance to get his new season up and running but failed to score from point blank range. Other than that Kane had a very dull afternoon.
Substitutes:
Heung-Min Son: 6/10
Came into the match for Moussa Sissoko and immediately poised a lot of attacking threats.
