Newcastle vs. Tottenham
Venue: St James Park
Kick off: 2:05PM
Newcastle United resume their Premier League relegation battle with a home match against top-four chasing Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon.
The Magpies are winless in six and are just two points above the relegation zone, while Tottenham’s 2-0 win at Aston Villa before the international break moved them into sixth.
From being 11th and just two points off a European spot on December 12 to desperately hanging on for survival, it has been quite the plight for Newcastle over the past four months.
Steve Bruce’s men fell to a 3-0 loss at relegation rivals Brighton & Hove Albion two weeks ago and it now looks set to be a shootout between United and Fulham for 17th place.
Newcastle know that they quite simply need to put some wins on the board, and a fixture that they would once be happy to claim a point from may no longer be good enough.
The 11 points accrued by Newcastle since December 12 is the fewest of any Premier League side over that period, yet Bruce remains in a job with nine games to go.
The Magpies face Tottenham, West Ham United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester City, Manchester City in the final stretch, before a final-day trip to Fulham.
Bruce will be eager to open up a four-point gap on Fulham before that showdown at Craven Cottage, though earning a much-needed victory this weekend will be tough.
United have lost five of their last six home league games with Tottenham, including each of the last three, but they did claim a dramatic 1-1 draw in September’s reverse fixture.
Tottenham’s form has been pretty poor in recent weeks, having exited the Europa League in the last 16 with a horror defeat in Dinamo Zagreb and losing 2-1 to Arsenal in the league.
However, Jose Mourinho’s charges did respond with that victory at Villa before the two-week break and they also have an EFL Cup final with Man City to look forward to this month.
Indeed, for all the talk of how poor Spurs have been of late, they have won four of their last five league games and are three points behind Chelsea in fourth place.
The aim for Mourinho over the next seven weeks is clear – win the EFL Cup and finish fourth in the Premier League – so hitting the ground running this weekend is imperative.
Newcastle United possible XI: Darlow, Manquillo, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Willock, Shelvey, Hendrick, Joelinton, Almiron, Fraser.
Tottenham possible XI: Lloris, Tanganga, Sanchez, Rodon, Reguilon, Lo Celso, Ndombele, Hojbjerg, Lucas, Kane, Vinicius.