Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United. Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Report and free highlights as Lucas Moura ends run of 22 Premier League games without a goal; Heung-Min Son twice strikes woodwork as Spurs miss hatful of chances, before Callum Wilson stuns hosts with last-minute penalty
Wednesday 4 November 2020 13:19, UK
Callum Wilson's 97th-minute controversial VAR-awarded penalty continued the debate on the new handball interpretation as Newcastle held dominant Spurs to a 1-1 draw.
In a game they controlled from almost start to finish, Lucas Moura slotted the hosts ahead when Harry Kane again turned provider to tee up the Brazilian for his first goal in 22 Premier League games, as the woodwork and some superb goalkeeping from Karl Darlow kept the scoreline respectable in Newcastle's favour by the break.
Jonjo Shelvey could have provided the Magpies with a shock equaliser on the stroke of half-time but saw his volley whistle wide of the far post, while Jeff Hendrick wasted one of few chances in the second half, despite the visitors' improving on a dismal opening 45 minutes.
In a weekend already fuelled by handball drama at Brighton and Crystal Palace, Newcastle were awarded an injury-time penalty out of nowhere as, after checking the pitchside monitor, referee Peter Bankes adjudged Eric Dier had handled in the area - a decision which saw Jose Mourinho storm out of the dugout and down the tunnel.
In his absence, Wilson beat Hugo Lloris from the spot for an equaliser both sides could barely believe had materialised with their only shot on target of the entire game.
"You've got more trouble on your hands Premier League, FIFA, UEFA, whoever is involved. Change this now," said Sky Sports co-commentator Jamie Carragher as tempers boiled over at full-time, with a member of Tottenham's coaching staff sent off for remonstrating with the officials.
The pre-match talk of Jose Mourinho's decision to leave Dele Alli out of his squad for a second successive league game, only 48 hours after saying he was 'convinced' the midfielder would remain a Tottenham player, was soon put on the back burner as Spurs flew out of the traps against Newcastle's five-man defence.
Lo Celso's fourth-minute free-kick provided the impressive Darlow his first chance to shine, as he palmed his near-post effort away before denying Harry Kane with a superb reflex stop on the rebound.
He would be at his best again to get a firm hand on Kane's header back across goal minutes later, but with Newcastle camped in their half and struggling for an out ball, Moura's opener on 25 minutes came as little surprise.
Kane, who provided four assists in Spurs' 5-2 win at Southampton last weekend, was found by Son in space on the left, before nutmegging Isaac Hayden with a low delivery into the six-yard box which Moura stole in at the far post to finish.
Before the break, Spurs should have added to their lead, with Son twice striking the woodwork from distance and Eric Dier missing a free header from a corner, before Newcastle - much as Tottenham had done last weekend - nearly provided a shock moments before the break, when Matt Ritchie's delivery was volleyed just wide by Shelvey.
Steve Bruce had been left audibly furious with his side's first-half defending and they improved following the interval, and could have found an equaliser with their best move of the game when Miguel Almiron found Hendrick's run, but the Irish midfielder's first-time finish flew well wide.
At the other end, Lo Celso again had Darlow at full stretch to keep out his low 20-yard effort, while half-time substitute Steven Bergwijn stung his palms on the volley.
Another sub Erik Lamela, who was inches from scoring at St Mary's last time out, came nearly as close from an audacious free-kick from the right which Darlow was forced to palm over, before the Achilles' heel of Spurs' one-goal advantage was exposed in farcical circumstances.
With Tottenham preparing to take a throw-in deep in the Newcastle half, VAR official Lee Mason signalled to referee Bankes about a potential handball in the Spurs penalty area by Dier. After a check lasting almost two and a half minutes, which saw Bankes reviewing the footage on the pitchside monitor, the referee awarded Newcastle the injury-time spot kick, with Wilson making no mistake from 12 yards to snatch a point Newcastle had never looked likely to pick up.
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho: "I don't think [about the decision]. I think about my team's performance, which was really good. The first half, amazing, it should have been 3 or 4-0, easy, but Karl Darlow was fantastic and they survived.
"We kept the control in the second half, we know the danger of the box, we kept them away from it, we know the Tottenham box is a special box so we managed to keep them away always, and then had that situation that we lost two points from.
"If I want to give some money away, I would give it to charity, I don't want to give it to the FA, so I don't want to comment."
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce: "I can understand why Tottenham are going to go berserk and the way Roy Hodgson reaction yesterday - it's a total nonsense. We've got one today and we should be jumping for joy and through hoops but I'd be devastated if it was against us.
"Maybe Roy's right, we have to all get together. We put the referee's under this enormous pressure, the handball rule has been around for years and if it's a deliberate handball then yes, but the decisions are, for me, ruining the spectacle. It was great for us today but one or two of them will go against us.
"I think we have to get together as managers and coaches to go to the Premier League and say 'this must stop'."
In spite of any VAR controversy, Newcastle would not have been in a position to earn themselves anything had Darlow not kept them in the game with a string of fine first-half saves.
There were barely four minutes on the clock when he produced a stunning double-save to keep out Lo Celso and Kane's efforts, and he never looked back from there.
In his post-match press conference, Spurs boss Mourinho labelled his performance as "phenomenal", which could certainly be justified as the regular back-up to Martin Dubravka made 11 saves, the most of any Newcastle goalkeeper in a Premier League game since Tim Krul's 14 - also against Tottenham - in November 2013.
Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports:
"It's an absolute disgrace. An absolute joke. Newcastle fans will be ecstatic, I can understand that but everyone else in this country will say exactly what I'm saying.
"Eric Dier jumps for the ball, has no control of where his arms are going to be, it was a header half a yard away from him, hits him on the back of his arm, he has no idea what's going on. This is a joke.
"Whether it's the Premier League, the FA, FIFA, Pierluigi Collina, whoever is involved in this, stop it, because you're ruining football for everybody. Absolute joke.
"You've got more trouble on your hands Premier League, FIFA, UEFA, whoever is involved. Change this now!"
Tottenham return to the Carabao Cup with their London derby against Chelsea live on Sky Sports Football this Tuesday from 7pm; Kick-off at 7.45pm. Mourinho then faces a reunion with another of his former clubs when Spurs travel to Manchester United on Sunday, October 4, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 4.30pm.
Newcastle next visit Newport County in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, live on Sky Sports Football; Kick-off at 5.30pm. They're also back on the box next weekend with their trip to Burnley live on Sky Sports Premier League from 8pm on Saturday.
