Newcastle United weren’t at their best on Saturday, but Bruno’s late goal made it two wins in a week at St James’ Park and keeps our momentum building.
After ticking off Benfica (3-0) in the Champions League and Fulham (2-1) in the Premier League, our third game in 10 days on Tyneside is undoubtedly our toughest as Tottenham come to town in a Carabao Cup last 16 tie.
Spurs have looked much stronger under Thomas Frank, not only sitting third in the Premier League after Sunday’s 3-0 win at Everton, but remaining unbeaten away from home in all competitions, winning four and drawing three of their seven on the road so far.
Discussing our desire to defend the trophy and the challenge of facing a Spurs side in superb form on the road this season, Eddie Howe spoke well on Tuesday morning, saying:
“It’s made my desire to win even stronger. Having gone through the experience of winning, the high that you get, seeing the joy in everyone, seeing how that united the city in the celebrations – that can only make you want to experience that more.”
“This will be a really tough game against a team that is in form away from home. It is going to be a real challenge for us. Thomas Frank’s teams are very aggressive off the ball – they are very well organised. It is a good game for us, a tough game, but one we look forward to.”
Sven Botman will be assessed as a “nasty cut” meant he wasn’t able to train on Monday, while this one comes just too soon for Lewis Hall, who is the “closest” to returning of our previously injured players.
Sandro Tonali is expected to return after recovering from a bug, but Tino Livramento and Yoane Wissa are still a week or two away.
For Spurs, they’ll be without centre-back Cristian Romero, striker Dominic Solanke and left-back Destiny Udogie, with James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski both long-term absentees. Yves Bissiuma, Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin are also out.
(4-3-3): Ramsdale – Krafth, Schar, Thiaw, Burn – Bruno, Tonali, Ramsey – Elanga, Woltemade, Gordon.
Starting in goal, I’m 50/50 on this but think Ramsdale gets a rare chance to impress. He started the last round of the Carabao Cup – a 4-1 win over Bradford – and I’m not sure when he’ll get the chance to impress following a loan-to-buy move if he isn’t getting a run in one of the cup competitions.
At the back, my selection is on the basis we protect Botman for Sunday, given the Dutchman missed training on Monday after suffering a ‘nasty cut’ to his head. With that in mind, I think Schar comes in, with Trippier due a rest at right-back. At 35, I’m not sure he will play four times in 12 days, meaning this could be a rare chance for Krafth to come in.
In midfield, Bruno doesn’t miss games and seems to have the durability to play constantly, Tonali will return after recovering from a bug that kept him out of Howe’s XI in both matches last week, leaving one spot up for grabs on the left. Joelitnon put in a solid shift against Fulham, but I can see Ramsey coming back into the XI for this one.
In attack, I think Gordon keeps his place down the left and I think we’ll see 60 or 70 minutes of Woltemade before Osula comes on, as the Dane was superb from the bench on Saturday but has been managing an ankle issue. On the right, I think it’ll be Elanga or Barnes, but will edge towards the former, who could use a game like this to kickstart his Newcastle career.
Howe has only lost one of his seven meetings with Thomas Frank, but Frank’s Spurs have also been unbeaten on the road this season, winning at Man City, seeing off Everton 3-0 on Sunday and currently sitting third in the league.
This will be tough and the trickiest test in a busy run of home games, but we will be determined to defend the cup, keep this run of positive results going and perform under the lights in front of a big St James’ Park crowd.
With all of that in mind, I think it’ll be a score draw which ends in a shootout win for Newcastle United!
Prediction: Newcastle 2-2 Spurs (Newcastle to win on penalties!)
Howay the lads!
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