Woltemade hot streak continues as Newcastle rise high to knock out Spurs

The Carabao Cup was on display in main reception here, dictating that Tottenham’s players trooped past it en route to the away dressing room before kick-off. If the sight of that trophy inspired Thomas Frank’s team, Newcastle’s desire to retain it proved infinitely stronger. As Eddie Howe put it: “This was a performance in line with our identity and our expectations. We were strong.”

Howe’s side could have been forgiven for prioritising the Champions League and the Premier League but, instead, they played with the zeal of a side still buoyed by their Wembley triumph in March.

As Schär’s header powered beyond Antonin Kinsky’s reach, Howe applauded enthusiastically. The ball-playing former Switzerland central defender began the season in stellar form and was desperately unlucky to lose his place to Malick Thiaw after sustaining a concussion.

Now, with Sven Botman rested as Newcastle’s made eight changes to Tottenham’s four, Schär found himself stationed alongside Thiaw and doing a very good job of subduing Richarlison.

Although the imperious Lucas Bergvall did not deserve to finish on the losing team, Frank’s problem was that his forwards struggled to properly test Newcastle’s goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale.

Not that this lack of killer instinct was exclusively a Spurs problem. Had Barnes not clipped the crossbar with a late first-half volley following fine work from Tonali and Thiaw, Newcastle would have been two up at the interval.

If no player is more important to Howe’s team than Tonali right now, Nick Woltemade is not too far behind. The Germany centre-forward headed his side’s second goal at the outset of the second half after meeting Joe Willock’s beautifully dinked cross and capitalising on an unfortunate misunderstanding between Kinsky and Kevin Danso. And to think Woltemade, who has now scored six goals for Newcastle, insists he is infinitely happier with the ball at his feet.

Frank’s players have often shone aerially at dead balls this season but here Newcastle delighted in demonstrating that they, too, are pretty useful with their heads at set plays. “It’s something we’ve worked on really hard lately,” said Howe, who had reason to thank Ramsdale for a superb save to deny Pape Sarr. “We’ve got the height and power to cause teams problems.”

Well before the end home fans felt sufficiently confident to start singing about another trip to a major final. Their Carabao Cup anthem last season – “Tell me Ma, I won’t be home for tea … we’re going to Wemberlee” – received an airing as Howe introduced a series of substitutes.

They included Joelinton, who could count himself fortunate to be merely booked following a reckless tackle on the Tottenham substitute Mohammed Kudus. The same luck applied to Kudus, who responded by throwing his fists at the prone Brazilian before Joelinton fought back.

“It was a game of small margins,” Frank said. “It was really close.”