Newcastle vs Spurs – Analysis, Prediction, Team News

As part of our weekend Premier League predictions, we take a look at Spurs’ visit to Newcastle. This is a real Champions League qualification six-pointer, and Spurs haven’t won away in 6 – home win? Read on with our Newcastle vs Spurs prediction.

Team News

Injuries and Suspensions

Newcastle:

Might Not Play:

Will Not Play: Krafth. M Longstaff, Saint-Maximin

Spurs:

Might Not Play: Lenglet, Davies, Sessegnon, Bissouma

Will Not Play: Emerson Royal, Bentancur, Moura

Newcastle vs Spurs Lineups (Predicted)

Newcastle (4-3-3): Pope; Burn, Botman, Schar, Trippier; S Longstaff, Willock, Guimaraes; Joelinton, Isak, Murphy

Spurs (3-4-3 / 3-4-2-1): Lloris; Lenglet, Dier, Romero; Perisic, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Porro; Son, Kane, Kulusevski

Newcastle vs Spurs Analysis

Newcastle Can Win the Midfield Battle

The absence of Rodrigo Bentancur for Spurs has been keenly felt, as his calm, reassuring presence in midfield allied to his creativity from deep allowed Spurs to avoid becoming predictable. While we want to be careful not to overstate the case somewhat, Spurs are 10th in the Premier League table over the last 20 matches and they’ve conceded 33 goals. In order to create their own chances, they’re having to give up too much defensively, and a feature of their play has been players being caught out of position and lapses in concentration.

Newcastle are perfectly poised to take advantage of subpar performances – Manchester United turned up to St James’ Park and put in a very poor performance, particularly in central midfield where Newcastle created wave after wave of attacking opportunities. Guimaraes in particular can be difficult to handle with his combination of excellent defensive work and technical ability while in possession. Spurs lack depth in midfield and have rarely dominated in that area for much of this season.

Spurs Still Carry a Reliable Goal Threat

Though they’ve been disappointing defensively this season, possibly as a result of having to commit too many men forward in order to avoid their frontmen becoming isolated, Spurs are the fourth-highest goalscorers in the division behind Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool. They have a world-class playmaking striker in Harry Kane, and although there’s a debate about Kane dropping too deep in matches to compensate for a lack of creativity in midfield, they’re capable of winning games against the run of play with the talent they have at their disposal.

The good news for Spurs fans is the return to form of Son Heung-min. The South Korean now has three goals in his last five Premier League matches, and given that Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison have two Premier League goals between them this season this can only be a welcome development. If Spurs are to qualify for the Champions League season, then they’ll need to be less predictable in attack – often, it’s a case of shutting down Harry Kane. We’re not suggesting that Spurs are a one-man team, but they’ve been hit hard with the loss of Bentancur and Kane is often too obviously Spurs’ main playmaker.

Our Prediction

We’re backing Newcastle to shrug off a poor away-day performance and result at Villa Park and return to business as usual at St James’ Park. It’s difficult to back Spurs to get anything here – we believe they will find it difficult at times to cope with Newcastle’s energy and directness as they look to exploit Spurs’ soft centre.

As Newcastle tend to attack rather directly in transition, we see this as a bad matchup for a Spurs team who have been getting some results against the run of play lately – particularly at home to Brighton, where they were outplayed for much of the match.

Newcastle 3-1 Spurs

Newcastle vs Spurs Betting Tip – Newcastle Odds: