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Tottenham Hotspur fans went into their League Cup quarterfinal matchup with Newcastle a bit concerned, and justifiably so. Spurs haven't been good in the cups recently and Newcastle are on a great run of form. What most didn't account for was the Magpies' third-string goalkeeper, the most important player for either side in Spurs 4-0 win.
Jak Alnwick whiffed on a routine corner claim in the 18th minute, allowing the ball to fall to Nabil Bentaleb. He made the most of the error, scoring a difficult side-footed volley to put Spurs on top early.
The Tottenham defense looked a bit shaky for the rest of a mostly even half, but a combination of some composed goalkeeping by Michel Vorm and poor Newcastle finishing kept Spurs in front heading into the break.
Nacer Chadli doubled Spurs' lead just a minute into the second half, with Alnwick looking bad again. Chadli's shot from 20 yards did take a slight deflection, but it didn't change the trajectory of his fairly week shot much at all, an Alnwick should have got a hand on it. Instead, the ball rolled into the back of the net.
Newcastle's best chance to equalize came in the 55th minute, when Remy Cabella whiffed on a tap-in. Ayoze Perez set him up for a simple goal with a brilliant run and cross, but Cabella couldn't get his foot in front of the ball to redirect it.
The visitors wouldn't get a better chance than that, and quickly went down by two more goals. Harry Kane scored from 12 yards in the 65th minute, off a great assist by Andros Townsend, and Spurs took advantage of another Alnwick error not long after that. Substitute Roberto Soldado was the beneficiary, tapping in after Alnwick tipped Christian Eriksen's shot right to him.
Newcastle were on top until the end, but it didn't seem to bother Spurs, who held on for a shutout win.