It’s down to the nitty-gritty in the Premier League where almost every result from now until the end of the season matters, and Paul Merton has given his opinion on who he thinks will come out on top in the Newcastle v Tottenham game this weekend.
The race for the Champions League places is really beginning to heat up and the game at St. James’ Park could go some way to determining which of the two teams will remain in the box seat at full-time.
Prior to kick-off the Magpies will be in fourth place, three points ahead of the Lillywhites and with a game in hand. Tottenham also have Aston Villa breathing down their necks too. Newcastle themselves are three points behind Man United.
It isn’t quite a ‘must-win’ game at this point, though it’s fairly obvious that if Eddie Howe’s side emerge triumphant, Spurs will have a mountain to climb in their final six games.
“Eddie Howe has been brilliant for Newcastle but if they keep losing games like they did last week, things could change,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“They’ve got to get into the top four now. A couple of big defeats and the board will start wondering how far Eddie Howe can take this team.
“This is a massive match. Both teams had absolute shockers last week. I thought Tottenham were definitely going to beat Bournemouth. Their season’s on the line, and if they lose this game, that’ll be it. If they lose to Newcastle, they’ll be lucky if they finish in fifth place.
“If Newcastle lose this game, alarm bells will start ringing – they need to raise their standards. Eddie Howe needs a big result, and I think they’ll pull it off against Tottenham this week.”
The Sky Sports pundit then went on to predict a 2-1 win for Newcastle.
Howe is likely to want to show his paymasters that when the big games come around, he remains the right man for the job.
Notwithstanding their performance against Bournemouth and the way they’ve begun other games of late, the Magpies have had a great Premier League season without the upheaval that an underperforming Tottenham side have had to deal with.
I disagree about his point about Eddie Howe who has done a magnificent job with Newcastle irrespective of a top four finish. However I fear he may well be right about Tottenham being on the losing end of this one, Spurs for me are a tactical mess and especially in defense!