Tottenham suffered a disastrous defeat, and "captain" Son Heung-min didn"t have much to show for it.

Tottenham lost 0-4 away to Newcastle United in the 33rd round of the 2023-24 English Premier League (EPL) at St. James" Park in Newcastle on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET. 

Son Heung-min, who started as a frontline striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, was uncharacteristically taken off early. He was replaced by Dejan Kulusebski in the 13th minute of the second half with the team trailing 0-3 and played 58 minutes. 

Son didn"t record a single shot in the entire 58 minutes. It"s hard to say that Son was the only one who struggled. Overall, Spurs were outplayed by Newcastle. Spurs" connections in the attacking third were poor, and few of their passes reached Son in the first place. The team"s lack of buildup left Son isolated.

As a result, Son had to put the 10-10 goal on the back burner. With 15 goals and nine assists in the EPL this season, Heung-min is just one assist away from joining the 10-10 club. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) was the next player to join the 10-10 club, but it didn"t happen.

 

After threatening early in the first half, Newcastle broke the 0-0 deadlock in the 30th minute. After breaking up a Tottenham buildup at the back, the ball was played through to Alexander Isaac. Isaac easily beat Tottenham center back Mickey van der Penn to open the scoring for Spurs.

Newcastle scored shortly after Tottenham"s kickoff. Anthony Gordon beat van der Penn with a right-footed shot that found the back of the net. 

 

It was just the beginning. After coming close to adding to their lead on several occasions, the Magpies finally conceded a third goal seven minutes into the second half through Isaac. Setting up a ?? counter-attack on the halfway line, Isaac latched onto a long ball from behind and finished with his right foot to complete his hat-trick.

 

Spurs made a flurry of early substitutions in hopes of turning the tide, but they were met with one more blow. In the 43rd minute, Fabian Scherer found the back of the net with a header from a corner kick. 

 

It was a crushing defeat that quickly dampened the good mood. Tottenham beat Nottingham Forest on Aug. 8 to move into fourth place in the table, which qualifies them for next season"s UEFA Champions League (UCL). However, they are level on points with fifth-place Aston Villa and needed to win at Newcastle, but they slipped up. The fight for fourth place is likely to be even more intense. Meanwhile, Newcastle (50 points) leapfrogged Manchester United (49 points) into fifth place.