The Newcastle United number 1 was in terrific form on Sunday as the Toon watched their side travel away to North London’s Tottenham Hotspur.
In a game which saw the home side dominate most of  the play, it was the away side’s Goalkeeper Tim Krul that deservedly picked up the man of the match award for arguably having the best goalkeeping performance this season.
Tim Krul’s consistency to save shots under pressure was truly tested by Tottenham Hotspur over the duration of 90 minutes, with 31 shots being fired towards him. The Dutch shot stopper made a record breaking number of saves in a game, stopping the ball from crashing into his net on 14 different occasions. The most by any keeper since Opta started recording full data in 2006/2007.
Throughout the course of the game Krul’s reflexes were tested to the max and he made some unbelievable instinctive saves; only hours upon hours on the training ground can explain how he got to some of those shots. But my own personal favourite would have to be when Tottenham hotspur received a free kick on the edge of the penalty area, Gylfi Sigurdsson stepped up for Spurs, the shot got deflected off Christian Eriksen, sending Krul the wrong way, Krul then threw himself back against his momentum and somehow stuck a hand out to save the shot, and was then helped by his Newcastle team mate Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who hooked the shot off the line away from the onrushing Spurs players.
Other great saves during the game saw Krul stop shots from a beautiful in-swinging free kick from Christian Eriksen and also Roberto Soldado’s back-header which looked to be floating into the top corner until Krul pulls off a brilliant reaction save and tips the ball over the bar.
The match at White Hart Lane was totally dominated and bossed by the home side,  and by looking into some of the stats it is hard to believe how Tottenham didn’t come out as winners. Tottenham controlled the game by having 65.3% possession to Newcastle’s 34.7%. Tottenham also successfully completed 397 passes whereas the boys from the North East could only string together 164 passes.
At the end of the game Tim Krul told reporters that his performance during the game had been the highlight of his career and to get 3 points away to Tottenham was a fantastic result. Krul also states his personal favourite save was from the looping Roberto Soldado header.
Loric Remy gave Newcastle the lead early in the first half, taking the ball around Spurs’ keeper Brad Friedel and hitting home on his weaker left foot. This now gives Remy 7 goals in his last 7 Premier League appearances.
The 1-0 win on Sunday gave Newcastle their first away clean sheet since May 2012, when the Geordies won 2-0 at Chelsea. Newcastle have won 7 Premier League games at White Hart Lane, making this their second best away ground having only won on the road more times travelling to Villa Park (8).
