Spurs v Newcastle: Match Preview, Team News, Prediction

Newcastle United travel to North London today for a 5.30pm KO looking for their first Premier League victory under Matthias Jaissle.

There were plenty of positives in the 2-2 draw against Liverpool, despite the heartbreak of conceding a penalty deep into stoppage time.

A 3-2 Carabao Cup victory over West Brom followed in midweek, and now comes a real test against a Spurs side who have spent c£350M on new players including of course Sandro Tonali.

Match Preview

While Newcastle fought their way to a 2-2 draw against Liverpool in an opening game they were only seconds away from winning, Spurs made a dreadful start to their Premier League campaign, losing 3-0 at Brentford.

They responded in midweek with a convincing 5-1 Carabao Cup victory over Charlton, but Newcastle should still travel to London believing they can cause Roberto De Zerbi’s side problems.

Recent history certainly favours the Toon

Newcastle have won six of their last eight Premier League meetings with Spurs including three of the last four away games.

Spurs have made plenty of big signings, have just added Marmoush on loan, and De Zerbi will already be under some pressure after that crushing defeat at Brentford.

The two goals against Liverpool show that Jaissle's focus on quick transitions after breaking up attacks can be lethal especially with the pace of Elanga, Willock and Wissa.

I'm expecting Spurs to come out all guns blazing for an early goal and that could play right into the Toon's strength on the counter.

I'm also expecting Gonzalez to start alongside Lewis Miley and the spotlight will be on how those two perform compared to Spurs £185M duo Tonali and Fernandes.

The one concern during the Liverpool game was the space Newcastle gave the Reds in the middle of the park making it too easy for our defence to come under pressure.

This is a potential weakness in Jaissle's 4-2-3-1 system where playing against a line up of 4-4-1-1 or 4-3-3, where wide players drop into midfield, can leave us outnumbered in the middle of the park.

IMO we played too deep at times against Liverpool and the space between the 4 and 2 and the 3 and 1 was too wide creating the gaps that left us vulnerable.

It's early days for the new system and I've no doubt that Jaissle will have been working in training on positional play when the oppo have the ball.

Gonzalez also brings a physical presence to our midfield and it will be interesting to see whether Jaissle alters his tactics in away games or sticks rigidly to 4-2-3-1.

Team News

Will Osula remains out with a foot injury and is joined in the treatment room by Dan Burn (ankle), Joelinton (groin) and Tino Livramento (calf), while Bazoumana Toure should be fit to feature after being subbed at half time against West Brom with a knock.

New signing Nico Gonzalez could be handed his full debut in midfield alongside Lewis Miley, which would likely see Sean Steur drop out of the starting lineup.

Wissa will move up to lead the line and the only other likely decision for Jaissle to make is who plays as a 10, Willock or Ramsey.

Prediction

Whilst the performance against Liverpool raised spirits and confidence, Liverpool were a shadow of the side who won the title two seasons ago.

We've also conceded four goals in our opening two games following on from no clean sheets against good opposition in pre-season.

That makes me concerned that we could be getting too confident too early and surely Spurs can't be as awful as they were against Brentford.

Like us, Spurs have new players who are still finding their feet and form and they are too good not to hand out the occasional hiding to a team, especially at home.

The 5-1 win against Charlton will have steadied their nerves and De Zerbi and his team will be hell bent on showing the Brentford performance was a one off.

I think this game might be decided in the opening 20 minutes.

If Spurs score first then it will be a real test of mettle, cool heads and defensive organisation for the Lads to stay in the game.

If we can get past those first 20 minutes, and better still score, then the pressure will heap on Spurs and their jittery crowd could vent their impatience.

So... my usual fiver is going on a 2-1 win to the Toon.

After my winning 2-2 Liverpool bet the bookies will be quaking when I walk through the door and begging I don't go flush and stick a tenner on.

TRANSFER LATEST:

Liverpool are now reported to have made contact about Pardo and if true we know where that will end.

El Khannouss is said to be the back up option and there may be another signing that hasn't hit the rumour mill yet.

It's also being reported that Hopkinson is in Europe ready to negotiate fees for the players Wilson is targeting.

Jezza's Spurs Bingo - Get your entries in before 3pm today. Not played yet? There have been no winners so far so it's not too late to join while every player is on 0 points.

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