Eddie Howe has put the block on any plans for a Christmas party because of the fixture schedule. His Newcastle players probably don’t feel much like celebrating anyway.
After the late heartache of the controversial penalty at Paris Saint-Saint Germain that ultimately proved costly in the Champions League, here was another dagger in the chest right at the death.
The Magpies were two minutes from a first ever away victory in a League Cup quarter-final when Mykhailo Mudryk sent an absorbing tie to a penalty shootout. And how Mauricio Pochettino needed that with the home crowd ready to turn.