Emmanuel Adebayor proves difference yet again as Tottenham hammer struggling Newcastle 4-0
EMMANUEL Adebayor continued his imperious form with a double as Tottenham downed Newcastle United 4-0 at St James’ Park.
EMMANUEL Adebayor continued his imperious form with a double as Tottenham Hotspur continued Newcastle United’s wretched run of form with a 4-0 win at St James’ Park.
The conclusive victory not only pushes Spurs clear of Everton in fifth place but also moves them closer to an elusive Champions League berth, which only a matter of weeks ago seemed a highly ambitous target.
Newcastle, on the other hand, are in freefall. They have lost their last three games, conceeded 10 goals in the process and failed to find the back of the net. While relegation looks unlikely, serious questions are set to be asked of manager Alan Pardew’s future at the club.
Adebayor, who was only recalled to the Spurs squad once Tim Sherwood was appointed manager, has been the form striker in the EPL for the past month and Newcastle simply had no answer to his skill.
He opened the scoring in the 19th minute and added his second eight minutes from time as Spurs tore Newcastle apart with their passing.
Paulinho scored the second just after half-time and substitute Nacer Chadli rounded off the scoring two minutes from the end.
Meanwhile, Stoke City and Swansea City shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Britannia Stadium.
Peter Crouch opened the scoring for the hosts in the 19th minute before Chico equalised seven minutes into the second half.
Gary Monk’s team were trailing to Peter Crouch’s first half goal at a windswept Britannia Stadium, where the game only went ahead after two pre-match safety inspections due to the storm-force winds prior to kick off.
But Flores netted in the second half as the Spanish defender finally hit the headlines for the right reasons.
It has been a difficult few weeks for the 26-year-old, who was accused of diving to make the most of a challenge from Andy Carroll that led to the West Ham’s striker’s dismissal and subsequent three-match ban.
A few days later Flores was apparently involved in a training ground bust-up with Monk, who later insisted the incident had been blown out of proportion.
Flores then played his part in Saturday’s 3-0 south Wales derby win over Cardiff as Monk began his managerial career with a bang after taking up the reins from the sacked Michael Laudrup.
And he was in the right place at the right time to net the equaliser against Mark Hughes’ team and keep Swansea in 10th place.