Newcastle United will today take on an injury plagued Spurs side in a bid to extend our winning run to six games and start the new year in the best way possible.

Like Man United, Tottenham are also on a bad run of form having lost to Nottingham Forest and drawn to Wolves, which leaves them in the bottom half of the Premier League.

For Newcastle, things couldn’t be going any better at the minute with Alexander Isak firing on all cylinders and the defence looking string and another win here could lift us into fourth should Chelsea lose their game.

Merson predicts Newcastle’s trip to Tottenham

In his latest piece for Sportskeeda, Merson has predicted how the game will pan out ahead of the 12.30pm kick-off in North London.

He’s made three predictions, backing a comfortable win for Eddie Howe’s Mags and for us to compete with Chelsea and Nottingham Forest for a top three finish if we invest in January.

His third centres around Alexander Isak, where he couldn’t resist once again, predicting Arsenal to “definitely” win the league next season if they sign the £150m-rated Swede. Cheers, Paul!

Merson said: “With the way both teams are playing, I have to go with a Newcastle win here. I know Manchester United aren’t great, but I thought Newcastle were brilliant in that 2-0 win. They are flying at the moment and I don’t expect this game to be any different.

“When you look at Tottenham, they are still in the running to win a trophy. I know that some sort of silverware will be a huge relief for their fans. However, they look a million miles away from finishing in the top four and that’s a problem. They are 11 points behind Chelsea and all the six teams, including Newcastle, between them and the Blues have all looked better!

“The Spurs fans will not have complaints with the football they’re watching under Ange Postecoglou though. They wouldn’t want to go back to the old days under Antonio Conte or Jose Mourinho because this is at least positive football. And when you play this kind of expansive football, it really is difficult to keep it tight at the back. If I had to pick one team to watch purely for the sake of entertainment in the Premier League, that would be Spurs – no doubt.

“Newcastle have hit good form at the right moment. If they end up strengthening the squad in January, they can push Chelsea and Nottingham Forest to the end for third spot. But whether they dip into the market or not depends on Financial Fair Play (FFP) of course.

“It will be interesting to see if they receive an offer for Alexander Isak too. If I was Arsenal, I wouldn’t think twice and put in a massive bid to sign him in January. Isak is a real handful and is in terrific form. Even if Arsenal don’t win the league this season, they will definitely win it next season, if they have him in their line-up!”

Merson’s prediction: Spurs 1-3 Newcastle

Although he did claim us to be ‘brilliant’ against Man United and tip us for another win away from home, Merson just couldn’t help but squeeze in a little comment regarding Isak’s future.

If we qualify for Europe, continue playing the way we are and recruit the right players like we’ve done so well with Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Sandro Tonali, then there’s no reason to think he won’t remain at the club and continue this project.

Newcastle big favourites vs injury-hit Spurs

Although no Newcastle fan will never admit  to being favourites in a game like this, Tottenham’s injury and illness troubles have left their defence depleted and our attackers should be licking their lips.

First choice centre-backs Christian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies are all out while their replacements Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray are believed to have been hit with an illness along with James Maddison and keeper Fraser Forster.

It certainly makes for good reading for Newcastle, especially after we suffered heavily with the same issues around a similar time last year losing this fixture 4-1.

Another win on the road would be a big statement from Eddie Howe who will have some kinder fixtures coming up as well as some important cup ties including that semi-final against Arsenal which kicks off on Tuesday at the Emirates.