An invigorating season ended with a whimper for Tottenham Hotspur as a 5-1 thrashing at relegated Newcastle United cost them second place in the Premier League and forced manager Mauricio Pochettino to apologise to fans.

Tottenham, for so long champions Leicester's closest pursuers, only needed a point from their last game to seal a runners-up spot, but collapsed to their worst defeat of the season against a side reduced to 10 men after the break.

While finishing third and sealing a place in the Champions League group stage next season would have been beyond the club's expectations at the start of the campaign, there was a sense of deflation as they finished a point below bitter north London rivals Arsenal.

Having seen their chance of a first title since 1961 evaporate when they drew 2-2 at Chelsea on May 2, finishing above Arsenal for the first time since 1995 would have given the fans plenty to smile about during the summer break.

But it was not to be as Tottenham's last four matches ended with two draws and two defeats. Harry Kane took to Twitter to say sorry to the travelling fans for suffering such an unexpected final-day collapse.

"Today wasn't nowhere near good enough. It shows we are still learning and still have a lot to improve on," said Kane on Twitter. "But overall with have to see the bigger picture. We are in the Champions League. We have to stay positive and be proud! We have to come next season with ambition!"

Pochettino shared Kane's views on the nature of the defeat.

"First of all I would like to apologise to our fans," Pochettino, who signed a new contract extension in the week, said.

"I think they don't deserve all that happened today on the pitch and I apologise. "It was a shame and difficult to understand. In the last couple of weeks when you do not play with 100 percent it is impossible to win games and after Chelsea something happened.

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