Newcastle United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2

Cristian Romero’s double, which included an overhead kick five minutes into second-half stoppage time, helped Tottenham Hotspur salvage a 2-2 draw with Newcastle United.

Thomas Frank's side travelled to St James' Park having lost back-to-back Premier League matches, and they had to fight back from behind on two occasions to stop the rot.

Having come on as a half-time substitute, Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes curled in a 71st-minute opener, only for Romero to respond with a diving header.

It looked as though Anthony Gordon's penalty – awarded for Rodrigo Bentancur's holding offence on Dan Burn – would hand Newcastle victory, but Romero's acrobatic effort stunned the home fans into silence in added time.

The result keeps Newcastle and Spurs level in the table on 19 points apiece, sitting 13th and 11th respectively.

How the match unfolded

Newcastle bossed the first half, going close when Jacob Murphy curled a sublime pass in behind for Joelinton, whose shot from a tight angle bounced clear off the far post.

For the fourth straight league game, Spurs reached the interval without registering a shot on target, and they came under pressure early in the second half as Guglielmo Vicario blocked Harvey Barnes' shot.

And their resistance was broken when Guimaraes whipped an excellent finish into the bottom-right corner.

Spurs hit back seven minutes later as Romero got in front of Burn to nod Mohammed Kudus' delivery into the bottom-right corner, though they were not on level terms for long.

Following a VAR review, it was ruled Bentancur held Burn while not looking at the ball from a Newcastle corner, and Gordon made no mistake with his 86th-minute spot-kick.

There was to be one final twist, however. Aaron Ramsdale could only half clear a corner at the other end, and while Romero's contact on an acrobatic effort was not clean, the ball bobbled into the far corner to hand Spurs a valuable point.

Substitutes make their mark, but Newcastle frustrated

At the start of the season, few would have expected both Newcastle and Spurs to be in the bottom half going into this fixture.

Indeed, despite the low feeling surrounding Spurs, Newcastle were below their visitors on goal difference following an up-and-down start to 2025/26, with Eddie Howe calling on the Magpies to find some consistency after Saturday's 4-1 victory at Everton.

They started confidently, forcing several dangerous turnovers, and Joelinton was unfortunate to see his angled drive bounce clear off the woodwork.

But the hosts improved massively when Guimaraes stepped off the bench at half-time. He delivered two wicked corners from the left, with the first nervously cleared by Lucas Bergvall and the second almost sailing all the way over Vicario.

Gordon was then introduced in the 66th minute, and he played a crucial role in the opening goal, scampering down the left wing to find Nick Woltemade, whose clever lay-off was dispatched by Guimaraes.

Gordon also held his nerve from 12 yards to score his first Premier League goal since January when Burn was fouled, but Newcastle saw loose set-piece defending punished by Romero.

Howe will be frustrated at having seen two points slip through Newcastle's grasp, with consistency still evading his team ahead of Saturday's meeting with Burnley.

Spurs show unity

Spurs boss Frank stressed the need for unity ahead of this match, after yet another poor showing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was met with boos last time out.

Romero was suspended for that dire defeat to Fulham, but the Spurs captain returned here as Micky van de Ven, his regular partner at the back, was surprisingly dropped to the bench.

The Argentine could hardly have asked for a better return to action following his one-match ban, as he showed his attackers how to finish.

Indeed, Romero had Spurs' only two shots on target in the match, showing the instincts of a centre-forward to get across Burn for his first goal. There was a hint of fortune about the way the ball came off his shin for his second, but he will argue he made his own luck after attempting such a difficult piece of skill.

Frank, though, will still want to see more from his attackers. Spurs have not scored a first-half goal in five Premier League games, since winning 3-0 at Everton in October.

Still, Frank will be delighted by the character shown by his players following a difficult few days, with his former club Brentford next up.