Spurs humiliated at St James’ Park: what is their heaviest defeat?
Newcastle put five past the visitors in the first 21 minutes as Tottenham suffered one of their worst defeats of the Premier League era. The second fastest time a team has taken a five-goal lead.
Tottenham suffered one of the most spectacular collapses ever seen in the Premier League in this afternoon’s Week 32 meetings at St James’ Park. It was a horror show for interim manager Cristian Stellini, overseeing his fourth match in charge and with just one win since he took over the reins from Antonio Conte last month. It didn’t take long for the game to suddenly become out of reach for Spurs - Jacob Murphy, Joelinton and Alexander Isak forced Hugo Lloris to pick the ball out of his net five times within the first 21 minutes.
It was the second fastest time that a team has raced to a five-goal lead in England’s top tier. Manchester City have the honour of doing it the quickest - Guardiola’s team took just 18 minutes to fire five past Watford in September 2019 in a game they went on to win 8-0. In third place are Blackburn Rovers, who stormed to a commanding 5-0 lead in their meeting with Sheffield Wednesday in August 1997. As of the moment, no team has managed six goals in the first 45 minutes.
Fastest teams to go 5-0 up in the Premier League
- 18 minutes Manchester City vs Watford (2019/2020)
- 21 minutes Newcastle vs Tottenham (2022/23)
- 24 minutes Blackburn Rovers vs Sheffield Wednesday (1997/8)
- 26 minutes Arsenal vs Southampton (1996/7)
- 35 minutes Everton vs Southampton (2002/3)
Today’s game ended 6-1 - a result which complicates Spurs chances of guaranteeing European football next season. It leaves the north Londoners fifth on 53 points but with potentially decisive games coming up against the three clubs that sit either side of them in the table - up next are Manchester United (4th on 59 points), followed by away trips to Liverpool (7th on 50 points) and Aston Villa (6th on 51 points).
In terms of historic defeats, today’s mauling to Newcastle wasn’t the worst Spurs have suffered in the Premier League or the old First Division. Their heaviest league defeat was a 7-0 thrashing by Liverpool at Anfield on 2 September 1978. In the Premier League era, Tottenham have endured three heavier defeats than this afternoon’s - curiously, the Magpies were just one goal away from equalling their 1–7 Christmas throllocking from December 1996. That, along with 0-6 defeats to Sheffield United (March 1993) and Manchester City (November 2013) are the biggest defeats that Tottenham have suffered in the domestic league.
Tottenham’s heaviest league defeats
- Liverpool 7-0 Spurs (September 1978)*
- Newcastle United 7-1 Spurs (December 1996)
- Sheffield United 6-0 Spurs (March 1993)
- Manchester City 6-0 Spurs (November 2013)
- Derby County 8-2 Spurs (October 1976)*
*Denotes League Division One