In true international break fashion, it feels like an absolute age since we last played – doesn’t it?!
After previously going on a NINE-game unbeaten run, the 17-day gap and warm-weather training camp in Dubai probably came at a good time after we looked a little laboured and flat in our last game; a 1-0 defeat to Everton’s 10-men at Goodison Park.
Next up, yet another away day sees us take on a resurgent Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
They’ve had a patchy season, but have actually won five of their last seven games, scoring 19 goals in that time and seeing Harry Kane get back to his brilliant best in the process.
That said, they remain a soft touch defensively under Antonio Conte, giving us reason to believe we can come away from London with another good result, with us yet to taste defeat at their new stadium.
We come into this closer to the top 10 (five points away) than the relegation zone (nine points clear), but Burnley play twice over the next few days and could close the gap between themselves and those clear of the bottom three, meaning our focus on survival must be maintained as we enter the final stretch.
Team news
Fabian Schar (adductor) and Martin Dubravka (illness) both returned early from international duty, but both have been passed fit for selection after training on Tyneside.
Jonjo Shelvey is back in contention after overcoming a period of illness, while Allan Saint-Maximin is finally ready to start again after working on his fitness levels in Dubai.
Kieran Trippier is edging closer to a return from a broken foot, however Callum Wilson won’t be back anytime soon based on Eddie Howe’s comments in Friday’s press conference.
Oliver Skipp and Ryan Sessegnon have both been ruled out for Spurs, however Ben Davies has been passed fit to play despite pulling out of the Wales squad.
Predicted line ups
(4-3-3): Dubravka – Manquillo, Schar, Burn, Targett – Willock, Shelvey, Joelinton – Fraser, Wood, Saint-Maximin.
Martin Dubravka – Seems to be fine after leaving the Slovakia camp early through illness last week and may need to be at his best to keep the likes of Kane and Son at bay!
Javier Manquillo – Unlike Krafth, who has been away with Sweden, he’s been training with the squad over the past few weeks, meaning he could have the edge here. His decent pace could also mean he’s better suited to come up against Son.
Fabian Schar – Appears to be OK, with Howe confirming he’s trained since returning from a spell with the Swiss national team. Lascelles is ready to step in if needed, though. In fact, I wouldn’t be overly surprised if we opted for a back three (as we did at Chelsea).
Dan Burn – Deservedly voted our player of the month for March, but will be looking to recover from curel mistakes that cost us in each of our last two games.
Matt Targett – Did very little wrong in defeats at Everton and Chelsea, defending well and delivering some brilliant balls into the box from open play and set pieces.
Joe Willock – With Bruno Guimaraes not long returning from a spell in South America with Brazil, I wouldn’t be surprised if Willock is handed another start here.
Jonjo Shelvey – Fit again after missing our last few games through illness, so should return to our XI after being declared ready to return by Howe.
Joelinton – One of the first names on the team sheet these days and will have benefited from the rest over the past few weeks after managing an ongoing groin issue.
Ryan Fraser – His energy will be needed against Reguilon and Son, with both likely to bomb on down Spurs’ left. His ability to put good balls into the box for Wood will also be a weapon.
Allan Saint-Maximin – Howe may feel like this isn’t the game to start ASM given how Tottenham’s marauding full-backs get forward, however he is our biggest threat and could expose the gaps they leave at the other end. Also, he’ll only get back to full match fitness with starts…
Chris Wood – Scored five goals over the break and became New Zealand’s all time top scorer in the process, giving him a confidence boost – even if he’ll have a clocked up a fair few air miles!
Predicted Spurs XI (3-4-2-1): Lloris – Romero, Dier, Davies – Doherty, Bentancur, Højbjerg, Reguilon – Kulusevski, Son – Kane.
Match prediction
Last time we came back from a warm-weather training camp, we put together a six-game unbeaten run featuring five wins and a string of superb displays, so we’ll have to hope Dubai has had a similar impact to Saudi!
Tottenham have had a lot of players away on international duty, so won’t have been able to prepare quite as well as Eddie Howe’s Mags, giving us the edge in that respect.
It’s hard to be confident against a Conte side featuring Kane and Son, but I’ve got a sneaky feeling we’ll come away with a point here!
Prediction: Tottenham 1-1 Newcastle
Just pricing up timber and wire mesh for a catio, good god the prices are mental, still cheaper than what my builder quoted me to build it. Gonna build it with my brothers help. Reckon it’s gonna be around £1600 , builder quoted £3450 😆 😆 it’s a ruddy catio ffs
KIMTOON(Quote)
Good start to the day.
I am going 1-1 at Spurs.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I would be happy with that .
KIMTOON(Quote)
HWTL
KIMTOON(Quote)
Whatever happens today with us, it is important that the Blue Bindippers stay in the mire. We are not totally safe yet, and the more we keep below us the better.
As Kimtoon said, we should have beat them. We have offered them a lifeline but I dont trust Super-Frank, so I think it is them or Burnley.
HOPEFULLY.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
My Grandad looks like he is refereeing the game!
Oh, it is Martin Atkinson, 51. Sorry.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
That was never a foul on 16 mins – old man Atkinson. Grandad, Grandad, you are shyte.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Little Joe is playing pretty well.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Get innnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Schar
KIMTOON(Quote)
Get in!
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
ffs, commentator can hardly hide his delight at their equalizer
KIMTOON(Quote)
Shelvey not at his best
Groucho(Quote)
Well that lead didn’t last long, did it? Great free kick but shi.t defending from us.it kicked off a bit mind didn’t it? I think overall 1-1 is ok for first half.
Shelvey not looking his best at the moment. Giving the ball away too much.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
I’ll definitely take a point from this one.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Hard to dispute that half time as fair. They had a lot of toothless possesion but are good for the draw at HT.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Pretty even first half to be fair. Neither keeper had a save other than picking the ball out the net.
I still fear the difference will be the quality of the front 3s. Wood is just anonymous again. I know he’s got 3 CBs but stick it on one of them at the very least.
I think they will come out quick in the 2nd half so we need to be ready.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Don’t know why joe got booked but not Emerson
Ian Lavery Jnr
@LaveryJnr
Headbutt from a spurs player results in Newcastle getting two players booked. No VAR No Emerson card? If that was shelvey it would of been a red all day #NUFC
This
KIMTOON(Quote)
Were there any really chances for either team apart from the goals?
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
You can see he’s been Howe’d though mate, the lad has never looked so lean.
He does look a little off pace, but he’s done ok.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Oh well
KIMTOON(Quote)
FFS man!!! I’m just a fat pleb sat in my armchair and knew they were coming out like that!!!. What the f@ck are we playing at man!!!.
Steaming with Dan Burn there!!. Stupid yellow card diving in and then dived in on Kane again.
That’s a pathetic start that and an up hill battle straight away!!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Burn needs to settle down – he’s chasing after Kane and getting pulled out of position – needs to get his head back & stay disciplined
Sharpy17(Quote)
Oh god, the hot weather didn’t help our boys much did it, 3.1
KIMTOON(Quote)
Good goal
Shamrock(Quote)
***** absolutely *****. Sorry but that’s Dan Burn AGAIN!!!, He went after the first ball again getting pulled out of position then chased the ball. Such poor defending & for as good as he’s been since coming in, his mistakes in the first 10 mins have us 2 behind now!!.
I’d look to him to be the wise head back there – he’s all over the bloody place.
Sharpy17(Quote)
goal difference taking a battering now 🙁 4.1
KIMTOON(Quote)
Pathetic
Sharpy17(Quote)
Oh dear
Shamrock(Quote)
And this is why it so sad we didn’t get anything from Everton and robbed at Chelsea , anyone who thinks we will get owt from Wolves on friday is dreaming. We ain’t safe yet.
KIMTOON(Quote)
This is the 3rd game in a row now where we’ve looked a different team than in the other half.
I’m watching Burn & I bet he gets sent off today. He’s diving into everything.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, Burns head is gone
KIMTOON(Quote)
Good goal by Schar but his defensive qualities have always been suspect.
Groucho(Quote)
What is the point of Wood?
Groucho(Quote)
I don’t care which manager you want to use – this is one of the worst halves of football I’ve ever seen us play.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – for all the praise he’s had since he’s came in, he’s been at fault for all 4 of these 2nd half goals.
There’s not 1 of our players I’d score higher than a 3 in this second half.
I said at half time they’d come out quick and we had to be ready – we did the exact opposite.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well that was an absolute fuc.king horror show. Abysmal performance ???????.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Appalling second half. They need to hang their heads in shame after that. Defence was non existent. I’m just gob smacked ???????
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Thank fuc.k we have that 9 point gap! However if we keep playing like that we will get dragged back into the shi.t.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Well that was a proper pasting. They are a good side. We have weaknesses all over the pitch. Shame game plan went out the window 2nd half – and we need to stay focused after taking the lead! We are not good enough up front and Burn had an off day.
Shamrock(Quote)
I really can’t believe how naive we were at half time. I was so glaringly obvious how Spurs were going to start that 2nd half & we played right into their hands.
This is a team who have had a nice little jolly up to warmer weathers – what the hell have they worked on during that break???.
Sorry but they’ve just had an all expenses trip away and we’ve had a few thousand travelling fans spend a small fortune to get to London and watch that 2nd half.
I’m so disappointed with the team today – that was awful.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sham – I can accept there are better teams than us in this league, and there are few teams with a better front 3 – maybe only Lpool & City.
But we weren’t beat by real quality today. We gifted them that 2nd half.
Burn was awful in the 2nd half, and I’m sorry but I’m sick of defending Wood. He’s not playing well enough for us since coming in – he needs to do so much more imo.
One final thing – I’m sick and tired of the ASM show as well. He spends more time on his backside and limping round – it’s boring!!. Get on with it, coz the way I feel at the minute I’d snatch someone’s hand off for £50m.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Pundits love a Kane love in but surely Son was man of the match. I still have faith in Eddy but he has to be ruthless. Quite frankly I would prefer someone out of the Academy in place of Wood. Spurs forwards ran past Shelvey like he wasn’t there. He tried hard but is that good enough?
Groucho(Quote)
Fede is our best CB.
Groucho(Quote)
No he’s not mate is the short and simple answer.
Howe says today was a good wake up all. Maybe taking them away on a jolly up wasn’t there best idea to convince them they are still in a relegation battle like.
Sharpy17(Quote)