EPL: Newcastle face Spurs acid test

Tottenham vs. Newcastle
Venue: Tottenham
Kick off: 4:30PM

Tottenham Hotspur will be buoyed by their latest productive tangle with Manchester City, earning a point at the Etihad Stadium last Saturday after Gabriel Jesus was denied a late winner by VAR.
Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura were on the scoresheet as Spurs equalised twice and ensured City held the lead for less than 25 minutes in a 2-2 draw.
Tottenham themselves were ahead for less than five minutes of normal time when they eventually overcame Villa in a surprisingly difficult first home game on the opening day.
After John McGinn’s ninth-minute opener, Villa held on until new Spurs signing Tanguy Ndombele found an equaliser and the ever-reliable Harry Kane scored twice late on.
Spurs hold a decent record but have not been entirely convincing at their new home so far, where they were beaten by West Ham United and Ajax last season.
Only a last-gasp Christian Eriksen strike denied Brighton & Hove Albion a point when the Seagulls arrived on a dreadful run of form, and Everton went ahead on the last day of the campaign before Eriksen again proved the saviour to make the final score 2-2.
With a trip to arch rivals Arsenal coming up next week, Spurs will be hoping to avoid the kind of scare they experienced against Villa and enjoy a routine victory after showing their table-topping credentials at City.
There is a notable discrepancy between their home and away form in 2019, picking up more than three-quarters of their points on home turf in the year to date.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United are hoping to produce a backlash when they visit unbeaten Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon after their chastening 3-1 defeat at newly-promoted Norwich City last week.
Steve Bruce is eager to avoid defeat for the first time in charge of the Magpies, while Spurs counterpart Mauricio Pochettino will expect his side to improve their Premier League record of four wins and one defeat from their first six games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The travelling Toon Army will be watching through their fingers if Newcastle offer the kind of lacklustre performance that saw them sink to a resounding defeat at Carrow Road.
Already under pressure following the unpopular departure of former boss Rafael Benitez, Bruce knows the prospect of finishing the first three games of the season pointless will not lighten the mood of Newcastle fans.
That said, they are used to unpromising starts.
Last season, Newcastle took 11 games to record their first win, although they did not lose any of those matches by more than a goal and, by comparison to the Norwich result, picked up a point on a trip to Cardiff City in their first away game.
Newcastle have lost 12 consecutive league away matches against top six sides, failing to record a point against the heavyweights since a draw at Liverpool more than three years ago.

Tottenham possible XI: Lloris, Walker-Peters, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Rose, Winks, Sissoko, Son, Eriksen, Lamela, Kane.
Newcastle possible XI: Dubravka, Krafth, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett, Ritchie, Hayden, Ki, Shelvey, Almiron, Joelinton.