By STEVE DOUGLAS, AP Sports Author
Newcastle’s rise to becoming a team able to compete within the Champions League seemed inevitable following the buyout of the northeast club by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund a yr ago.
Few predicted it will occur this quickly.
With a 2-1 win at Tottenham on Sunday, Newcastle climbed into fourth place within the Premier League — the ultimate Champions League qualification position — in one other statement of intent by the soccer team with the world’s richest ownership.
Newcastle’s only loss all season has come at Liverpool, and that was after a stoppage-time goal. There have been draws against Manchester City and, just last weekend, Manchester United.
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This, then, is not any fluke by a team that doesn’t have any real superstars — yet — but is amazingly well-drilled under manager Eddie Howe and has the most effective defensive record within the league.
“Whenever you associate us with money, it takes away the credit for the players,” Howe said. “I’ll rise up for them and say loads of these players were here anyway and those we’ve recruited, we’ve recruited correctly.
“But let’s give the credit for the performance, not take a look at how the team has been put together.”
Newcastle has an unlikely scoring sensation, too, with Miguel Almiron — one in all the players on the club within the old regime under Mike Ashley — grabbing what proved to be the winner for his fifth goal in as many games.
That got here within the fortieth minute when the Paraguay forward shrugged off Ryan Sessegnon, skipped past one other defender, Clement Lenglet, and slipped a finish under goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Lloris played a central role in Newcastle’s opening goal nine minutes earlier, after he was blocked off by Callum Wilson after coming out to intercept a ball played forward. With Lloris on the bottom, Wilson collected the loose ball and chipped a left-footed shot over Lloris and Eric Dier into an empty net.
Harry Kane pulled a goal back within the 54th for Tottenham, which also was beaten by Manchester United 2-0 in midweek.
“We’re keeping our feet on the bottom,” Wilson said, “however it’s slowly but surely falling into place.”
When Saudi Arabia’s PIF bought out Newcastle, the team was winless and in nineteenth place last season.
Now, Newcastle is fourth and 7 points behind leader Arsenal, which drew 1-1 at Southampton to bring its eight-match winning run in all competitions to an end. It was only the second time Arsenal had dropped points within the league in 11 games.
Arsenal went ahead through Granit Xhaka within the eleventh minute, just for Stuart Armstrong to equalize after the break.
Arsenal’s lead now stands at two points from Manchester City, with Tottenham an additional three points back. It has been weekend for City, which beat Brighton 3-1 on Saturday.
American coach Jesse Marsch is the most recent Premier League manager feeling the warmth from his own fans.
Leeds’ 3-2 loss at home to Fulham sparked jeers from its supporters at full time. There have been chants against Marsch and the club’s board in the ultimate minutes of the sport, with Leeds within the relegation zone and on a four-match losing run.
“We’re unified here, from the board to the staff and the players,” said Marsch, who has been in charge since replacing Marcelo Bielsa in February.
Goals by Aleksandar Mitrovic, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Willian put Fulham 3-1 ahead after Rodrigo’s Twentieth-minute opener for Leeds. Crysencio Summerville got a stoppage-time consolation for the hosts.
Just imagine what Steven Gerrard was pondering as Aston Villa raced right into a three-goal lead over Brentford after just 14 minutes.
Gerrard was fired Thursday after a yr in charge, soon after a 3-0 loss at Fulham, together with his team in poor form and largely ineffective in attack.
Interim coach Aaron Danks quickly got something out of the forward line, with all three players — Leon Bailey, Danny Ings (2) and Ollie Watkins — scoring in a 4-0 win at Villa Park that marked the team’s biggest victory of the season.
“We owed the fans that performance and result,” Ings said.
“Naturally you usually see a response from a team when something happens prefer it has this week with the gaffer leaving. For what we’ve within the dressing room it was quite simply not ok and hasn’t been for a protracted time period.”
Leicester is out of the relegation zone. Wolverhampton has dropped deeper into it.
With their second 4-0 win of their last five games, Leicester’s players are putting behind them a dreadful begin to the season that left Brendan Rodgers under big pressure.
Now it’s Wolves — playing under an interim manager following the firing of Bruno Lage initially of the month — which is the crisis club after its heaviest defeat of the season. No team has more losses than Wolves’ seven.
Youri Tielemans smashed within the goal of the day, a first-time effort from 25 meters that crashed in off the post, to set Leicester on its way within the eighth minute. Harvey Barnes, James Maddison and Jamie Vardy — together with his first goal of the season — added the others at Molineux.
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