Tottenham thrash Newcastle 5-1 to rise to 4th in EPL

London (AP) — Tottenham powered above north London rival Arsenal into the English Premier League top four — for at least one day — by thrashing Newcastle 5-1 on Sunday.

Ben Davies, Matt Doherty, Son Heung-min, Emerson Royal and substitute Steven Bergwijn scored at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Spurs, who have netted more goals (30) than any other team in the league in 2022. Newcastle took the lead through Fabian Schar’s free kick in the 39th minute but couldn’t handle the relentless attacks of Tottenham.

They came from all angles, with wing backs Doherty and Royal even popping up to score rare goals. Tottenham moved into fourth place on goal difference ahead of Arsenal, which has two games in hand — the fi rst coming at Crystal Palace on Monday.

Tottenham and Arsenal are fi ve points behind third-placed Chelsea. Newcastle has lost three straight games in the league, having previously gone eight games unbeaten, and is still not safe from relegation in 15th place — nine points above the bottom three.

Tottenham responded well to going behind, equalizing within four minutes when Son crossed for Davies to glance in a header and become the fi rst of three home defenders to score.

Doherty headed in a cross from Harry Kane to make it 2-1 in the 48th and, six minutes later, Son controlled a ball into the middle from Dejan Kulusevski and fi nished into the corner. Royal scored his fi rst goal for Tottenham by poking in Doherty’s cross in the 63rd, and Bergwijn raced through the middle of Newcastle’s defense to score the fi fth in the 83rd.