Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to build on their midweek Carabao Cup victory when they welcome Newcastle United to North London this weekend, with Roberto De Zerbi hoping his side can finally produce the performance expected of them in the Premier League.
Tottenham got off to a nightmare start to their new Premier League campaign, suffering a 3-0 defeat to Brentford on the opening weekend.
Roberto De Zerbi admitted afterwards that his squad ‘weren’t a team yet’ and had been late to the tempo of the Premier League, although that is naturally something that should improve with time.
Spurs certainly looked much more cohesive in midweek as they thrashed Championship outfit Charlton Athletic 5-1 in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
Mikey Moore, Dominic Solanke, Kevin Danso, debutant Savio and Ben Davies all found the net as Tottenham put their disappointing league opener behind them.
Supporters will now hope that momentum can be carried into Sunday’s home clash with Newcastle United, with Savio and Omar Marmoush also available to make their first Premier League appearances for the club.
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Chris Sutton backs Tottenham to beat Newcastle United
Ahead of the clash, former Premier League striker and now pundit Chris Sutton has delivered his score prediction for the meeting between Tottenham and Newcastle United.
Writing in his BBC Sport column, Sutton said: “We all thought this was going to be Tottenham’s season but their defeat by Brentford was one of the extreme results at the weekend.
“Roberto de Zerbi said after the game that the players weren’t fit enough, lost all the duels, weren’t physical enough then used excuses about the pre-season and players coming in after the World Cup.
“It looks like Newcastle are going to be the counter-attack kings this season. They’ve brought Nico Gonzalez in but whether he’ll start I’m not sure but they have got pace as well.
“Anthony Elanga scored last week having not scored at all in the Premier League last season but I have to say I haven’t got a clue what this will be. I’m going to go for a Spurs win but I couldn’t tell you why.”
Sutton’s prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Newcastle United
Roberto De Zerbi gives Tottenham team news update ahead of Newcastle clash
Speaking to the media ahead of the clash, De Zerbi provided an update on his squad, starting with James Maddison, who missed the Charlton victory with a shoulder issue that is reportedly expected to keep him out for 2 weeks.
However, the Tottenham boss insisted the problem is not serious, saying: “James Maddison doesn’t have a big problem but has an issue in his left shoulder. We don’t know if he’s available for tomorrow.”
De Zerbi also confirmed that all the players who featured against Charlton are available, and so is new signing Omar Marmoush.
“Yes, they [all those that played on Tuesday] are in the right condition to play. Maybe Kudus could come in the bench, we have to see. Van de Ven is right to play. We’ll see about from the start like Pedro and Savio.
“Marmoush is available to play, maybe also from the beginning of the game. Udogie is very important and played 60 minutes to the plan (vs Charlton).”
Xavi Simons, Dejan Kulusevski and Wilson Odobert remain unavailable for the Newcastle United clash.