Kane eases the nerves to book top-four place
They have stumbled rather than stormed over the finish line, but Tottenham Hotspur have finally hauled themselves back into the promised land. A scrappy, angstridden victory over Newcastle United, coupled with Chelsea’s draw against Huddersfield across London, has at last ensured that Mauricio Pochettino’s side will host Champions League football at their sparkling new stadium next season.
As ever, it was Harry Kane, nowhere near his best but still in possession of an unbreakable radar in front of goal, who dragged them through, leading from the front.
Newcastle had enough chances to send jitters through a trembling Wembley, yet it was Kane who provided the game’s only killer moment and, in doing so, gave life to a fanbase rattled by fear.
An hour after Kane’s intervention, Pochettino’s press conference felt like nothing less than a victory speech. He thanked his coaching staff and his players, and even paid particular praise to the maligned Moussa Sissoko and Victor Wanyama for stepping up, despite spending so much of the season cut away from the first team.
“For the club, it is a massive, massive thing to move to the new stadium and play in the Champions League,” Pochettino said. “It will be another challenge. It will be a fantastic stadium, but you need to make the new stadium your home, like it was with Wembley. We need time to make that happen.”
Wembley certainly would have felt like home at the final whistle and, a few minutes earlier, when the news spread that Chelsea had failed to beat Huddersfield. On a night brimming with emotion, relief poured down the stands as Tottenham clung on to end their recent wobble and allow themselves to dream of more nights in Madrid, more meetings with Juventus.
“People did not realise it was so tough for the players and for the fans it was so difficult,” said Pochettino of this season’s relocation. “That is why I feel so proud of this group of players. It is difficult to achieve what we achieved today.”
The only setback was an injury to Kieran Trippier, the England fullback, who will be waiting anxiously to see the extent of a knee injury he suffered in the second half.
Rafael Benitez, the Newcastle manager, complained afterwards of penalties his side were not awarded, but his ire should instead have been directed at his forwards. Newcastle doused the Tottenham goal in shots, striking a post and forcing Hugo Lloris into a phenomenal first-half save, but they lacked the ruthlessness of Kane.
“We did really well,” Benitez said. “We had enough chances to score. We put them under pressure.”
That early assault contributed to a swelling of nervous energy around Tottenham’s fans, who knew a failure to qualify for Champions League football this season would constitute a collapse to compete with the great ‘Spursy’ moments of modern times.
A run of three defeats in five games had set the nerves jangling, and the unease was only made worse in a disjointed first half dominated by a Newcastle team playing with a sense of purpose one might not have expected from a side with nothing left to compete for.
Tottenham had most of the ball, but Newcastle had nearly all the chances. First, Jonjo Shelvey struck the outside of a post with a closerange free-kick, before Jamaal Lascelles drew an acrobatic stop from Lloris. Two opportunities soon fell to Dwight Gayle, who first headed over from Shelvey’s whipped cross and then tested Lloris again with a stabbed low effort.
Already, the noise of the crowd had turned from encouraging to desperate. The groans grew louder with each overhit pass or heavy touch, while exasperation was everywhere as Kane, clearly out of sorts, slashed at not one but two volleyed opportunities. But, as we should probably know by now, even a blunted Kane still poses a significant threat.
So it proved within minutes of the restart, when Son Heung-min teed up Tottenham’s top scorer inside the box. Perhaps helped by the lack of time he had to think it through, Kane instinctively stroked the ball into the top corner.
Still the anxiety hung around Wembley, festering as the game opened up. Jacob Murphy, on as a substitute for Newcastle just a minute earlier, had the clearest opportunity as he raced in behind the right of Tottenham’s defence. But he missed, high and wide, and Spurs were able to breathe, wait, then celebrate.
Tottenham Hotspur Booked Newcastle United
Subs Booked Referee Subs