Good afternoon and welcome to our live blog of Spurs against Newcastle, the match comes to us from the magnificent stadium in North London and we will kick off at 4.30pm. The team news should be with us about an hour before that and we will have plenty of build up, chat and speculation in the meantime.
Two intriguing teams at interesting stages. Newcastle seemed to be making the very most of the cash injection and Eddie Howe has had loads of good reviews recently but things have started to get a fair bit more tricky in recent weeks. They’ve got some injury problems and results have not been great.
For Spurs, life after Harry Kane began excitingly but they are on a run of poor form and, while it seems like the locals are still very keen on Ange, presumably they need to start winning pretty soon or he’s going to have a problem.
Eddie How reckons that the key for Newcastle is Bruno Guimaraes.
He said: “You need your top players to play really well when you’re in a situation like this that we’re in at the moment, and I think Bruno has certainly done that.
“I thought Manchester United and Chelsea, were up there with his best performances, and the first half against PSG.
“I think he was very, very good with the ball, very creative, managed to get himself connected with the players in front of him. But also off the ball, I thought he was really good, physically excellent, pressed really well.
“He’s such an important person to that part of the game for us that it is hard work for him physically, but he’s able to repeat those physical exertions that we need him to, so I think his game’s in a very good place.
“It has to be for us to perform well because he’s at the fulcrum of everything really.”
And Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou says: “The pressure is the pressure, you know.
“It’s always there, it’s how you kind of treat it and I’ve never let it sort of guide my path or my way forward.
“For me, I don’t have a three or five year plan up my sleeve that’s guaranteed for success. What I do have is a plan that I think will get us to where we need to be.
“How long that takes? I don’t know. It depends on how we keep disciplined in staying and sticking (to) the path.
“It’s how focused you are and how committed you are to go on the path you’ve started. I’m unwavering with that, I just will not budge. I just think that’s what I believe is the best way forward.”
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
