Newcastle travels to London this Sunday afternoon to take on a resurgent Tottenham Hotspur. The Lily Whites seem to have gotten the best of their Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde form that has blighted most of their 2022 so far.
After securing victories over Brighton and West Ham on the last two matchdays, Spurs will look for a third victory in a row against the Magpies. Antonio Conte’s men cannot afford another misstep if they are to be genuine contenders for the fourth spot on the table and that elusive Champions League qualification place.
Newcastle has endured a rough last two match days. After going on a nine-match undefeated run, they have suffered two heartbreaking 1-0 victories in a row.
They first went down to an 89th minute Kai Havertz winner after going toe to toe with European champions Chelsea.
That was followed up by conceding an injury-time winner from Alex Iwobi as Everton defeated Eddie Howe’s men last time out.
Tottenham vs Newcastle FYIs
When is it? Sunday, April 3 2022 4.30 PM Local Time
Where is it? Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Who’s in form? Tottenham (LWLWW) Newcastle (WWWLL)
What are the odds? Tottenham (-200) Newcastle (+550) Draw (+340)
After Extra Time Podcast: Spotify Apple Podcasts
Starting XI Prediction: go here
Team News
After weeks of mystery, the Spurs medical staff finally came clean regarding the injury of Japhet Tanganga. It seems the defender’s knee injury was much worse than first thought and surgery is the only way forward. We do not expect Tanganga to return to the first-team fray until pre-season 2022/23.
There is slightly better news regarding English midfielder Oliver Skipp. Skipp suffered a groin injury around the beginning of February and was initially expected to be out for a week at most.
Much like the Tanganga injury, it turned out to be much more serious than that, as he has missed nearly an entire two months.
There was good news from manager Antonio Conte in the pre-match press conference for this fixture, as the Italian said he expected Skipp back in full training following the clash with Newcastle.
There is similar good news for left-sided utility Ryan Sessegnon. Amid his first real first-team run, the youngster was struck down with a hamstring injury. We expect him to return to full training after the Newcastle match.
Last, Ben Davies was reported to have a hamstring issue. That has since been dismissed as nothing more than a minor issue. Spurs have declared the Welsh defender fit and available for selection.
Except for Tanganga, Spurs can expect to have a near-full first-team squad to choose from in the home stretch of their Premier League campaign.
Stuart Kavanagh is an up-and-coming sports journalist from Melbourne, Australia. Along with being the owner of the sports and entertainment website thepyrrhic.com, he is also the co-host of the ‘After Extra Time’ podcast. Football mad, he is always down for debate and discussion at @stueyissickofit on Twitter.