Tottenham made a winning start to the new season as a moment of madness from Jonjo Shelvey spoiled Newcastle United’s Premier League homecoming.

The Magpies were holding their own against Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs until captain Shevley was shown a straight red card for stamping on Dele Alli.

It was a moment of sheer stupidity from the skipper that left his team with an uphill task at St. James’ Park in front of a packed house on Tyneside.

Shelvey’s dismissal came just minutes into the second half after Rafa Benitez’s team had shut out the north Londoners in a closely-fought first period.

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Alli dusted himself off after the incident and made further his mark on the hour mark by finishing smartly past Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliot.

Tottenham have never lost a Premier League match when Alli has scored and there was little chance of that record being broken here.

Ten minutes later and it really was game over.

Some neat interplay between Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen on the edge of the penalty area saw the ball drop for Ben Davies and the full-back found the net.

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The former Swansea man has now scored twice in his last two league outings, having netted at the back end of last season, to send a message to Danny Rose.

Rose, sidelined through injury, will have been impressed with what he saw from his team-mates having publicly criticised Tottenham’s infrastructure last week.

Kane almost added a third in stoppage time but was denied by the post.

Next up for Tottenham is a showdown with Antonio Conte’s Chelsea. The Blues will be hurting after their opening-day humiliation at the hands of Burnley.

Newcastle travel to Premier League newcomers Huddersfield Town who were impressive in winning their first top-flight fixture on Saturday.