Newcastle United lost their third successive Premier League match on Sunday as they were hammered 5-1 by Tottenham away from home.

The Magpies failed to capitalise on their lead in the first half as Fabian Schar's free-kick found a way past Hugo Lloris and into the bottom corner.

Ben Davies soon equalised for the hosts with a flicked header, before goals from Heung-Min Son, Matt Doherty, Emerson Royal and Steven Bergwijn sealed a fantastic win for Antonio Conte's men.

A number of players failed to showcase the best of their talents in the drubbing and one man who struggled badly was centre-forward Chris Wood.

The attacker, who scored five goals in four games for his country over the break, has not been able to hit his best form since making the switch to St. James' Park in January. He has scored once in 11 Premier League matches for the Toon since the club paid £25m to sign him from relegation rivals Burnley in the winter window.

Frank McAvennie said earlier this year that the New Zealand international is "struggling" and his performance against Spurs was in line with that comment. He caught the eye in the wrong way as it was noticeable how anonymous he was throughout the match at the top end of the pitch.

Off the ball, he did very little. As per SofaScore, he did not win a single ground duel and failed to make any clearances, tackles, interceptions or blocks. This shows that he did not successfully press from the front to force Tottenham players into making mistakes, putting more pressure on the Magpies defence as their striker was not leading the defensive effort.

In possession, he was useless. As per SofaScore, he only completed six passes in his 70 minutes on the field, completing 60% of his attempts to find a teammate. He had one shot, that was off target, and did not complete any dribbles, key passes, long balls or crosses as he lost the ball six times from 15 touches.

This shows that he offered nothing to the team as an offensive threat. He did not make himself enough of a nuisance to the opposition defence and failed to get himself involved in the game. Instead of forcing the issue and trying to impose himself on Spurs, he struggled to get a touch of the ball.

The Magpies flop had fewer touches (15) than Martin Dubravka (38) and Howe will surely be hoping for more involvement from his number nine, irrespective of how the match went. It was a disappointing showing and his struggles continue...

AND in other news, PIF set to "lead the race" to sign forward for NUFC who will be a "joy to watch"...