Tottenham Hotspur's heavy 4-0 defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday lunchtime saw an all-time club-record scoring streak come to an end at St James' Park.
Ange Postecoglou's side were put to the sword by a prolific performance from the Magpies, who romped to a four-goal victory despite seeing just 27% of the ball.
Quickfire first-half goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon put Newcastle in control, with Micky van de Ven deemed at fault for both goals having been easily beaten by his man twice in little over one minute.
Isak then added his second and Newcastle's third of the day in the second half, before Fabian Schar capped off the rout with a header from a corner - an avenue of success for Eddie Howe's side throughout the contest.
The result lifted Newcastle above Manchester United into sixth place in the Premier League table, boosting their hopes of qualifying for the Europa League next season.
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Tottenham's record scoring streak comes to an end
For Spurs, the result was a hammer blow to their top-four chances in a week which has also seen the Premier League fall behind in the UEFA coefficient rankings, which will determine whether England's top flight will have four or five automatic qualifying places for the Champions League next season.
Having started the match in fourth, Spurs not only failed to move further clear of fifth-placed Aston Villa, the hit to their goal difference saw them drop back below Unai Emery's men and the wrong side of the all-important dotted line.
A heavy defeat at St James' Park is nothing new to Tottenham, having been blitzed on their last visit en route to a 6-1 defeat, but Saturday's match was the first time they had failed to score away to Newcastle in the league since December 2003.
The North London outfit's run of finding the back of the net in 17 successive Premier League visits to St James' Park since then was their longest scoring streak away to a specific opponent in their league history, but that has now come to an end.
Incidentally, that December 2003 defeat also saw them beaten by a 4-0 scoreline, with Laurent Robert and Alan Shearer both scoring braces on that occasion.
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Spurs faltering at worst possible time?
Tottenham had scored in every single one of their Premier League games this season before their shock 3-0 defeat to Fulham on March 16, but now they have drawn a blank twice in the space of a month.
It would be a stretch to suggest that they are now struggling in front of goal - they scored six times in the three games between those two heavy losses and average more than two goals a game this season, although they are the lowest scorers in the top six.
However, the nature of those two recent losses, both of which seemed to come out of the blue to some extent, might worry Postecoglou heading into a crucial part of the season.
Not only are Spurs battling Villa, who face title-chasing Arsenal on Sunday, for fourth spot, but they also have some very difficult fixtures coming up.
Touted as king-makers in the title race, Spurs must still face all of the top three between now and the end of the campaign, starting with the North London derby against Arsenal next up.
Postecoglou's side are not in FA Cup action next weekend and so have a two-week break before that showdown with their biggest rivals, but they then face Arsenal at home, Chelsea away and Liverpool away all in the space of seven days.
Manchester City visit in their penultimate game of the campaign too, so Spurs will know that a vast improvement is needed from Saturday's showing if they are to stay in the hunt for a top-four finish throughout that tricky run.
Barney Corkhill
