Spurs v Arsenal: the North London Derby (a potted history).

 VAR saved Newcastle: Tottenham Hotspur 1 Mike Ashley's Advertisers 1

Lucas Moura (25' minutes)

HT 1-0

C Wilson (90'+7minutes, thanks to VAR)

After our bumpy start (against Everton) we picked ourselves up, brushed ourselves down and have done well (so far). Even in this game (against Ashley's wanderers), we were far superior.

I usually report my trip to Spurs, before, after and even in-between. Now I just sit and watch from the comfort of my computer room, and that is as exciting as it gets (well, apart from the match);  before all that I went to the gym to psyche myself up for my prediction of a 4-0 or 4-1 result. Sadly three goals out. But a lot of positiveness (for us).

THE GAME

Newcastle saved themselves from an obvious defeat by rescuing themselves from an injury-time point against us. The computer said yes (VAR), but common sense said no, and they were awarded a penalty, which was wholeheartedly against the run of play. This game created another controversial handball decision.

We should have been about 7 or more up if only we had luck on our side. Then suddenly Andy Carroll headed a cross against Eric Dier's arm from close range. Eric didn’t stand a chance, it wasn’t deliberate, but after video assistant referee consultation, Ashley’s wanderers, with the help of an outside force (VAR) ended with an unfair draw. Bastards!!

Callum Wilson stepped up to score the penalty with practically the last kick - and Jose Mourinho walked down the tunnel in disgust (don’t blame him). He was pissed, as every Tottenham fan who was watching the game was. Bastards!! (again… it doesn’t hurt to show one's annoyance).

Lucas Moura had put us ahead in the 25^th minute; at the back post from a low cross by Harry Kane. Of course, our efforts should have been beyond them if it not been for their goalkeeper Karl Darlow, who made 11 saves - including two excellent ones to deny Kane.

Son who was the star in our previous games, by scoring four goals in last weekend's 5-2 win over the Saints, hit the woodwork twice. But half time came, and he was replaced by Bergwijn.

As for Ashley’s Newcastle, well they were cautious and created very few chances as they failed to have a shot on target until the end.

As for VAR and the penalty: well, that poor judgment eventually arrived after a four-minute wait... Dier had his arms in the air while he was jumping with Carroll, with his back to the Newcastle striker, who headed the ball directly against his arm from inches away. No way was he to blame. VAR checked whether there was an offside in the build-up and then if it was a handball. After the VAR referee couldn’t decide, Peter Banks was called over to take a gander, and then he made the usual square gesture with his hands, pointed to the penalty spot and the team that Mike Ashley is trying to sell, got an unfair point. As for Mike Ashley, the camera showed him smiling as he gives himself and the club he bought to promote his goods, handclaps. 

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson said on Saturday that such decisions are "killing the game of football". He wasn’t wrong. Even  Steve Bruce, who benefited from the VAR decision, said: "The handball has been around for a hundred years. If it is deliberate, no problem, but it has to be clear and obvious. We have lost the plot with it and it loses the spectacle of it. Maybe we can do something about it, we seem to have these phases where we take everything literally in the Premier League, and maybe we have to say no to it."

As for Mourinho, he walked down the tunnel in disgust after seeing Wilson score the penalty and when asked to give his reaction, he said: "I don't want to speak about it.” If he had done so, he would have probably been fined.

A side incident at the end of the game saw our coach Nuno Santos being sent off for his angry reaction.

The Premier League admitted at the start of the season there would be more penalties. Obviously, they wanted to liven up the game with controversy, and they did. Bastards!!

Gareth Bale was watching from the stands, not yet fit to play, and with Dele Alli left out of the squad entirely.

We started magnificently. From the beginning, it looked like it was going to rain goals for us.

My thoughts

Their goalkeeper Darlow did well to keep it down to one. Not only did he stop Kane, but pulled off a double save to keep out lo Celso's free-kick and Kane's close-range follow-up. After about eight minutes he managed to keep out Kane's header from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's cross.

Kane may not have scored, but he isn’t doing badly as a creator. It was his ball across the six-yard box that was altered by Moura at the back post. Kane also had a 25-yard effort saved by a diving Darlow and then found Son, who hit the post from outside the box. Son had hit the crossbar from a similar distance after good play by Matt Doherty.

It was more of the same in the second half as Moura had a couple of headers saved by Darlow, who kept out two Lo Celso efforts and an Erik Lamela free-kick. The closest Newcastle came to pitching it was before the end was when Hojbjerg almost scored a late own goal after getting in the way of Ben Davies' clearance. Lucky!

Even though we didn’t win the game, there were positives. We were the better side, should have won and would have won if it wasn’t for the acrobatics of their goalkeeper. On what I’ve witnessed – via TV – is that we are getting stronger and I can see silverware at the end of the tunnel. However, we still need a spare striker and probably one more defender. Even though I am annoyed about only getting a draw, I am happy and positive in the way we played (but saying that, we can still do better, and we will).

Some bad news, the reason that Son was replaced at half time was that he had a hamstring injury and will miss several games.

Some stats for you.

Newcastle have lost just two of their last seven Premier League away games against us (W4 D1), conceding no more than a single goal in any of those games.

Newcastle (W1 D1) have started a Premier League campaign unbeaten in their opening two away games for the first time since 2011-12.

Since Opta began collecting exact Premier League goal times in 2006, Callum Wilson's penalty equaliser for Newcastle (96:20) is the latest any side has scored with their first shot on target.

Lucas Moura's opener for us was his first Premier League goal since December 2019 against Wolves, ending a run of 22 games in the competition without finding the back of the net.

No player has provided more assists in the opening three matchdays of a Premier League season than Harry Kane this campaign (5 - level with Ruel Fox for Newcastle in 1994-95 and Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Man Utd in 2017-18).

Karl Darlow's 11 saves in this game was the most by a Newcastle goalkeeper in a Premier League match since Tim Krul made 14 against us in November 2013.

So, what is next for us?

Well, we have three games next week - at home to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Tuesday, hosting Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League play-off on Thursday and then visiting Manchester United next Sunday in the league.

Best Regard, Glenn COYS!