Panic on the streets of (North) London
Given their opponents’ recent upswing in form, Spurs’ 2-0 defeat at Manchester United wasn’t a surprise, but it does seem to have been a tipping point at which scales fell from a lot of eyes about the severity of their proximity to the Premier League’s relegation places. Spurs are now just six points above the dotted line, with Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and West Ham – essentially all of those below them apart from Burnley and Wolves – all having picked up points recently.
There are only four points between Spurs and Newcastle at the moment, and Newcastle’s manager Eddie Howe is also under a little pressure, with his team in 12th place in the table. His team has been inconsistent all season, but fans would probably rather see inconsistency than the sort of consistency that they’ve displayed recently, with three consecutive League defeats and a comfortable elimination from the Carabao Cup by Manchester City. Both clubs are still in the Champions League, though Newcastle have to compete in the play-offs for a place in the last 16.
When Spurs do lose to Newcastle, they tend to do so in style
There aren’t many positives to take from Spurs’ recent form against Newcastle; they’ve won just one of the clubs’ last eight meetings, and even though they drew 2-2 at St James’ Park at the start of December, the man who scored both of Spurs’ goals that evening will not be playing tonight. Newcastle also won 2-0 when they met in the Carabao Cup at the end of October.
Furthermore, when Spurs do lose to Newcastle, they have a tendency to do it in style; 5-1 in 2016, 6-1 in 1999 and 2023, 7-2 in 1950 and 7-1 in 1951 and 1996. The good news for them is that all of these defeats came at St James’ Park, and that they have dished out a few shellackings of their own too, over the years; 5-1 in 1959, 1985 and 2022, 5-0 in 2012, and 7-0 in 1950.
Newcastle’s defensive fragility has been their biggest recent problem
Newcastle’s big issue in 2026 so far has been their defensive record. Since beating Crystal Palace 2-0 on the 4th January, they’ve played eight games and have conceded twenty goals in that time, which included a clean sheet at Wolves. Sven Botman returned from injury for the Leeds game in January, but was benched against Liverpool, returning to the centre of their defence to little positive defensive effect against Brentford, although he did score their opening goal.
Spurs have fresh injury problems, while Newcastle are likely to shuffle
Thomas Frank has been given a fresh Cristian Romero-shaped problem following the captain’s sending off at Old Trafford on Saturday. He’ll now be missing the next four games – including the North London Derby on the 22nd February – suspended. Just what they needed.
Destiny Udogie lasted 55 minutes into his return from injury against Manchester United before limping off again and will be missing, and Djed Spence is also unlikely to return. Pedro Porro limped off at Burnley and won’t be ready for this match. Kevin Danso, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies, Richarlison James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus, João Palhinha and Dejan Kulusevski all remain out of action.
We can reasonably expect changes from Eddie Howe following Saturday’s home disaster against Brentford, with Jacob Murphy and Joe Willock, who were both hauled off at half-time, the most likely to be sacrificed. Lewis Miley, Anthony Gordon, Joelinton, Tino Livramento, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth remain side-lined.
Newcastle can benefit from a lack of cheer at Spurs
With two wins from their last 16 Premier League matches, something needs to change at The Tottenham Hotspur stadium for Spurs to avoid a relegation battle for which they seem particularly ill-equipped; they really are starting to circle that drain.
The Champions League has provided some light relief, but league form has been atrocious, the injury situation isn’t improving at all, and each League match brings about a fresh round of apoplexy from a fan base who have clearly seen enough.
Things aren’t going so well for Newcastle United. A month ago today, they were 6th in the Premier League and still in both of the domestic cup competitions. They’re now 12th and out of both the cups. If they’re to play European football again next season, they need to end their run of three straight Premier League losses before the gap becomes too great to bridge.
But the lack of positive signs emanating from The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium make this a perfect venue for them to be visiting, so, in the absence of seeing reason to be optimistic on behalf of the home team, I’ll go for Doctor Tottenham to be very much on-call, and for a comfortable 3-0 win for Eddie Howe’s Inconsistent Army.
(Cover image from IMAGO)