Newcastle United inflicted a humiliating <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2023/04/23/newcastle-united-smash-spurs-for-six-and-take-giant-step-towards-champions-league/" target="_blank">6-1 defeat on Premier League top-four rivals Tottenham Hotspur</a> on Sunday. The Mapgies were 5-0 ahead after only 21 minutes at St James' Park with Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak scoring twice and Joelinton grabbing the other. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/harry-kane" target="_blank">Harry Kane</a> pulled one back just after half time only for substitute Callum Wilson to make it six for Newcastle a little over a minute after coming off the bench. The victory lifted Eddie Howe's team up to third in the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/premier-league/" target="_blank">Premier League</a> table, ahead of Manchester United on goal difference but now six points clear of Spurs in fifth, with a game in hand on the London club. Manager Howe still would not be drawn on whether his side have all but sealed a top four spot. “It's not for me to say,” he said. “I saw a very good team playing today, two actually. But there's a lot of games to go and a lot of points to play for.” It was a nightmare day for <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/tottenham-hotspur" target="_blank">Spurs</a> that leaves their <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/champions-league" target="_blank">Champions League</a> hopes hanging by slimmest of threads. “It’s very embarrassing,” said captain Hugo Lloris. “We should apologise to the fans. We didn’t show a good face and we could not match the performance of the Newcastle players. “We were late in all aspects of the game and we completely missed the first part of the game. The second half is a different story but it’s really painful.”