Currently seven points adrift of the fourth and final UEFA Champions League qualification slot, with only three games left, Tottenham Hotspur are certainly the outsiders in the top four race. At least, for their sake, their final three fixtures provide winnable games against Newcastle and Crystal Palace, along with a chance to take points from one of the teams they are chasing, Leicester City.
To have any realistic shot of making the UCL though Spurs will need to win all three and hope that several of their rivals collapse in form over the run in, a combination of events that seems highly unlikely. Up first is a trip Geordie Land.
Team News
Outspoken and socially conscious full back Danny Rose will have to sit this one out as he’s ineligible to face his parent club. He’ll be joined on the sidelines by Jamaal Lascelles (ankle) and midfielders Isaac Hayden and Sean Longstaff (both hamstring), who are out injured.
Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron face late fitness tests for this one while Florian Lejeune and Ciaran Clark continue convalescence towards being match fit again.
Flipping over to Spurs, Dele Alli (hamstring) and Juan Foyth (knee) remain out of commission while Eric Dier is still suspended. Club record signing Tanguy Ndombele has suffered an injury in training, and is also expected to miss out.
The big news however, concerns Serge Aurier who lost his brother to gun violence over the weekend. It will be up to the Frenchman right back whether or not he wants to take bereavement leave for this one.
Tottenham Hotspur at Newcastle United FYIs
Kickoff: Wed July 16, 6pm BST, St James Park
Tottenham Starting XI prediction: go to this link
Key stat: Tottenham will be looking to record three consecutive away wins in all competitions against Newcastle for the first time since January 1975.
Prediction: Tottenham 2, Newcastle 1
Spurs have won four of their last five Premier League away games against Newcastle, and I fully expect them to keep the trend going on Tyneside tomorrow.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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