Spurs begin 2025 out of form and with a patchwork defence, which is not the ideal state in which to be facing an in-form Newcastle United.
By Ian King
Two sides heading in opposite directions?
Spurs enter the new year with their Premier League season already running out of gas. They’ve only won once in the League since beating Manchester City six weeks ago and there were few signs of improvement in their last match, with yet another two points dropped from a winning position against Wolves.
Newcastle, meanwhile, have recently recovered their poise after an underwhelming autumn, during which they won just two of eleven League matches. They arrive in North London having won their last four in a row, having scored 13 goals and conceded none whatsoever.
History suggests a goal fest!
Historically speaking, when these two meet there tend to be goals and big wins. Their last eight meetings have brought 37 of them, including 6-1 and 4-0 wins for Newcastle and 5-1 and 4-1 wins for Spurs. Spurs supporters with longer memories may shudder at the memory of a 7-1 defeat at St James’ Park in December 1996, a 6-1 defeat there in the FA Cup in 1999 or their 5-1 loss there in May 2016.
Key players
As with some other clubs, Spurs’ 2024/25 has thus far been partly defined by who’s been absent rather than who’s been fit. There haven’t been too many bright spots, but the performances of Dejan Kulusevski have become increasingly important to them.
Alexander Isak is the form player for Newcastle, having scored six goals in their recent four-game winning run, including a hat-trick at Ipswich and their opening goal at Old Trafford on Monday night. But the supply line is equally important; Jacob Murphy, Bruno Guimarães and Anthony Gordon have 14 assists between them so far this season.
Team News
Destiny Udogie is the latest name to be added to the Spurs injury list. He has a hamstring injury, while Ben Davies, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Wilson Odobert, Richarlison and Guglielmo Vicario remain injured, and Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended.
For Newcastle, Fabian Schär is suspended after picking up another yellow card against Manchester United (Lloyd Kelly is likely to replace him), while Kieran Trippier was withdrawn and is doubtful. Sven Botman is understood to be close to returning, but Callum Wilson, Emil Krafth and Jamaal Lascelles all remain injured.
Prediction
Somewhat surprisingly, Spurs’ recent 6-3 defeat against Liverpool was the first time they’d lost a league match by more than a single goal this season. Couple that with them being the second-highest goalscorers in the Premier League and their position going into this match might not quite be as hopeless as it at first appears.
But in recent weeks Newcastle have found the much-cherished equilibrium of scoring a lot of goals while conceding very few, and considering the dark clouds that have settled over the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium of late and that history of big wins, a 3-0 Newcastle win would only turn the heat up further under Ange Postecoglou.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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