Tottenham v Newcastle: Line-ups, stats and preview with all eyes on struggling Frank and Howe

Match Preview for Tottenham v Newcastle

Two clubs that have failed to match the ambitions of their supporters meet tomorrow night with Tottenham hosting Newcastle in North London.

Spurs start the midweek round of fixtures in 15th place and with one eye looking nervously over their shoulders. Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Manchester United saw Thomas Frank’s side slip to within six points of the bottom three and extended their run without a league win that stretches back to December.

These are troubled times for Spurs but they may find some solace from the fact their visitors tomorrow are experiencing an equally difficult period.

Newcastle have won one of eight games in all competitions and the pressure is starting to mount on boss Eddie Howe.

The Tynesiders were beaten 3-2 at home by Brentford at the weekend and sit 12th in the table.

The trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the latest fixture in a chaotic period that is far from over. They go to Aston Villa in the FA Cup at the weekend before a two-legged Champions League play-off against Qarabag either side of a league game at Manchester City.

Howe admitted this morning that this was his most challenging period since he joined the Saudi Arabian-owned club in 2021.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I think any time when you’re not getting the results you want. I don’t think performances have been particularly bad. Statistically, we are still pretty strong in every game, but the results certainty haven’t matched that.

“It’s been a difficult run of games. It continues to be a difficult run of games for us. That’s where we all need to show our strength of character, our resolve, our resilience and our feeling of how important this is to us and that needs to show most importantly on the pitch.”

Team News for Tottenham v Newcastle

Tottenham captain Cristian Romero is suspended following his dismissal at Old Trafford. Radu Dragusin is likely to deputise.

Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, Kevin Danso, Ben Davies, Mohammed Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Pedro Porro and Richarlison are all injured.