Newcastle United fought back from two goals down in a rollercoaster 4-4 draw with Luton Town, who stayed just outside the drop zone, in a Premier League match on Saturday.
Relegation-threatened Everton rescued a point against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-2 draw thanks to Jarrad Branthwaite’s last-gasp goal as Brighton & Hove Albion climbed to seventh in the table with a 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
At St James’ Park, Newcastle’s Sean Longstaff scored twice in a first half that ended 2-2, but Luton went 4-2 up through a Carlton Morris penalty and Elijah Adebayo’s strike.
On an extraordinary afternoon, Kieran Trippier pulled one back and substitute Harvey Barnes equalised in the 73rd minute. Barnes marked his return from a long injury with an important strike that rescued a point for Newcastle.
Newcastle are ninth with 33 points and Luton are 16th.
“To be honest, I don’t know what the feeling is,” Longstaff said. “I feel as though, with no disrespect to Luton, we should win at home. And going twice ahead, we should win it. It could be an important point come the end of the season.”
At Goodison Park, Branthwaite headed in the equaliser at the back post in the 94th minute. Tottenham striker Richarlison had netted a first-half brace against his old team.
“It is a massive point, we have had a rough patch recently,” Branthwaite told BBC. “We took our chances, obviously a bit disappointed with the goals we conceded but it is a good point and shows the fight we have as a team.”
Richarlison looked to have boosted Tottenham’s push for a top-four finish by taking his tally to nine goals in his last eight league games. But, Branthwaite was on hand at the far post to nod home a deflected free kick in the fourth minute of added time for his first goal of the season.
Arsenal optimistic
Arsenal will try to narrow the five-point gap on visiting league leader Liverpool when the teams meet for the third time in six weeks on Sunday.
Liverpool (51 points) earned a 1-1 draw in league play against Arsenal (46) at home on December 23, and the Reds beat the Gunners 2-0 in the FA Cup third round in London on January 7.
