Newcastle vs Tottenham Preview | Team News | Line-Up’s | Predicted Score

Tottenham kick-off their 2018/19 campaign with a trip to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle United at lunchtime.

Mauricio Pochettino has endured a frustrating summer as Tottenham became the first team not to sign a single player since the summer transfer window was introduced in 2003 as chairman Daniel Levy failed to land any of his top transfer targets.

However, Pochettino insists he’s not concerned by the lack of new signings as Spurs have tied key players like Harry Kane and Hueng-min Son down to long-term contracts while they’ve also kept hold of Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele and Toby Alderweireld.

It means Tottenham head in to the new campaign with exactly the same squad that finished third last season so Pochettino will be hoping that continuity will prove vital over the coming months.

Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez also endured a disappointing window as the Magpies made a large profit on their transfer activity so they’ll face a difficult task to improve on last seasons 10th-placed finish.

Team news

Tottenham will be without Victor Wanyama and Harry Winks due to knee injuries while Erik Lamela is also missing with a thigh problem.

Pochettino will make late decisions over the involvement of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen and Hugo Lloris as they lack match practice having arrived late for pre-season training following the World Cup.

Newcastle will hand a late test to Mo Diame as he’s hoping to recover from a hip injury while Martin Dubravka is set to start after overcoming a groin problem.

Fabian Schar, Ki Sung-yueng, Yoshinori Muto and Salomon Rondon are all hoping to make their debuts but deadline day arrival Federico Fernandez won’t be involved just yet.

Predicted line-ups

Predicted Score

Newcastle 1-2 Tottenham: Spurs will be hoping to continue their recent good form at St James’ Park having won three of their last four league visits. The north Londoners have an excellent recent away record as they’ve lost just one of their last nine on the road in 2018. I expect a reasonably close game but fancy Tottenham to have enough to edge it.