Newcastle United travel to North London today to face in-form Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Ligue 1 side AS Monaco 4-1 on Thursday night.
Although Mauricio Pochettino will be delighted with the victory, he will be fretting over the fitness of Eric Dier, who suffered a shin injury during the match on Thursday. His usual partner in the centre of the park, Moussa Dembele, is also doubtful for Newcastle’s visit after being ruled out of the Monaco game through illness.
Meanwhile, Steve McClaren will be coming into this game with the exact same squad as last week, with none of his players sustaining injury during the week – miracles do happen!
The only negative is that this game comes too soon for key trio Jamaal Lascelles, Cheick Tiote and Rolando Aarons, who are all close to returning from injury. The BBC state that the trio are now in-line for returns next weekend, when Newcastle welcome Aston Villa to St James’ Park.
Ahead of the game, BBC’s “football expert” Mark Lawrenson admitted he thought it was possible for Newcastle to get something out of this game against 5th placed Spurs.
“You just don’t know what you are going to get from this Newcastle team and it must drive Magpies boss Steve McClaren mad,” Lawro said.
I do think they are capable of getting something against Tottenham, though.
Lawrenson predicted a 1-1 draw.
