Andros Townsend’s first-half goal saw Luton beat Newcastle 1-0 at Kenilworth Road to boost their Premier League survival hopes.
Eddie Howe’s visitors were made to look ordinary by a side tipped widely for the drop.
The winner came during Newcastle’s only spell of sustained first-half pressure as Luton’s star pair of Townsend and Ross Barkley combined at a corner.
The gap to safety now stands at just two points after a third victory on the Hatters’ top-flight return.
Luton had laid out the kit of captain Tom Lockyer in their dressing room, seven days after he suffered a cardiac arrest that forced the abandonment of their game against Bournemouth. The 29-year-old’s name rang around the ground throughout.
The hosts dominated the opening 15 minutes, though the game produced few chances. Jacob Brown stood up Jamaal Lascelles on the left and drilled into the arms of Martin Dubravka, who covered his near post well, while at the other end Callum Wilson nodded wide under pressure after Lewis Miley’s shot was blocked.
Bruno Guimaraes whacked an effort from 18 yards that cracked off the ribs of Gabriel Osho.
Luton failed to clear the resulting corner and Anthony Gordon’s ball back in was met by the head of Wilson, who planted Newcastle’s best chance of the half too near to Thomas Kaminski.
Newcastle were growing into the game until Luton’s opener after 25 minutes against the run of play.
Barkley was brave in getting his head to the ball six yards out as Alfie Doughty’s corner was whipped in, flicking it on to the back post where Townsend had slipped marker Kieran Trippier and nodded past Dubravka. Townsend held aloft the shirt of absent captain Lockyer in tribute.
Luton had led here against Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City and taken just a point from those three games, but against a Newcastle side stretched by injuries, belief swept around Kenilworth Road that a big name would finally tumble.
Just after the half-hour mark it was almost two. Barkley, fresh from his hand in the goal, received the ball in space 30 yards from goal and tried his luck.
His effort flew over the goalkeeper before hammering back off the underside of the bar as home fans decried their luck.
Howe had seen enough. Eight minutes from the end of the half he gambled on two changes, Miley and Lascelles departing for Alexander Isak and Sven Botman.
It yielded little respite for this side. Within minutes Doughty had wrestled past Trippier into the box, Newcastle failed to clear as the ball broke loose, and Townsend was left free to test Dubravka with a firm effort.
The second half began in the same vein, Newcastle increasingly unsure of themselves in countering Luton’s threat. Adebayo was strong on the edge of the box to keep the ball and slide in Brown who rattled the bar with a rasping drive as the visitors clung on.
Newcastle finally rallied a response, and Gordon might have done better when he poked into the side netting from Trippier’s inviting cross. Isak thought he had levelled, bending the ball into the net but denied by the offside flag having moved early from Miguel Almiron’s pass.
Thereafter Newcastle bombarded Luton’s defence, which would not yield as the hosts put bodies on the line in a manner to make their captain proud.
Postecoglou: Spurs have a confidence problem to overcome
Ange Postecoglou says that Tottenham need to "overcome" their low confidence after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs slipped to their fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, being left to bemoan their slow start as they found themselves 4-0 down by the hour mark thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
Richarlison came off the bench to salvage some pride for Spurs, scoring one before setting up Son Heung-min for a goal on his 300th Premier League appearance.
Spurs had the opportunity to cut the gap to the top four after Aston Villa’s defeat to Brighton, but they remain seven points off a Champions League spot.
Postecoglou’s side still have a game in hand over the Villans, though he was sure that Spurs would be able to put their recent poor run behind them.
Asked if Spurs had a confidence problem, Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Maybe in the front third there is.
"It probably is a bit of a lack of confidence, but again, that's something the guys have to work through.
"You have to find a way to overcome that because, ultimately, if you don't put pressure on the opposition in the front third after you've worked your way up there, they're going to get comfortable with their position."
Spurs have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games, failing to win any of the last five.
Despite that run extending at Anfield, Postecoglou highlighted what he thought was an improvement on their recent performances.
He continued: "Obviously a hugely disappointing outcome for us but at least we were more like ourselves today in terms of our football.
"Our last two away games at Newcastle and Chelsea, apart from the results which weren't great either, we just didn't try and play our football.
"I thought today, even in the first half, some of our football, our pressing was back to where it should be."
Roma 1-1 Juventus: Juve miss chance to close gap to second after draw with Roma
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Roma on Sunday, missing the chance to close in on Milan in second place in Serie A.
Roma took the lead after 15 minutes when Romelu Lukaku found himself in the perfect position to tap in the rebound from a Bryan Cristante shot.
Bremer levelled with a header for Juventus just after the half-hour mark when Federico Chiesa picked him out inside the box from a corner.
Both sides had chances to find a winner in the final minutes, with Roma keeper Mile Svilar making a fingertip save to push Manuel Locatelli's volley over the bar.
Third-placed Juventus have 66 points, five fewer than Milan, who drew 3-3 with Genoa earlier on Sunday. Roma are fifth with 60 points.
Data Debrief: Leading from the back
Since scoring his first Serie A goal in the 2019-20 season, Bremer is the defender with the most headed goals in the Big-5 European leagues, netting 13 in total. Each of his last seven goals have been headers.
His goal was enough to earn Juventus a point today, but it means that they have drawn each of their last four in the competition - a first since February-March 2012 under Antonio Conte.
Chelsea 8-0 Bristol City: Blues rout hands Hayes perfect home send off
Guro Reiten starred as Chelsea thrashed already-relegated Bristol City 8-0 to keep their title hopes alive in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
The Norwegian scored four goals, netting the opener from the penalty spot to get Emma Hayes' last home game in charge off to the best start.
She scored the other three in the second half in just over 20 minutes, while teeing up Agnes Beever-Jones for the seventh goal with just two minutes left.
Beever-Jones got two, with Sjoeke Nusken and Niamh Charles also adding to the scoreline to eradicate the goal-difference advantage that Manchester City, who lost to Arsenal earlier on Sunday, had over them.
Chelsea move to within three points of the Citizens, with a game in hand over them, remaining in the fight to lift their fifth-consecutive league title.
Data Debrief:
Chelsea have scored eight goals in a game for the first time since December 2022 against Leicester City, a match they also won 8-0.
The Blues have scored in their last six games in the WSL, though it does not come close to their longest run of games with a goal in the competition - a run of 20 from April 2023 to February 2024.
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