· Brian Judson's Preview
· Last Year's Game - Spurs 1 Newcastle 3
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 25 2001-2
Last Six Premiership results:-
Spurs
Man City 2 3 Spurs
Spurs 2 2 Charlton
Newcastle 2 1 Spurs
S'hampton 1 0 Spurs
Spurs 4 3 Everton
A. Villa 0 1 Spurs
Newcastle
Bolton 4 3 Newcastle
Newcastle 2 1 Spurs
Newcastle 1 0 Liverpool
West Ham 2 2 Newcastle
Newcastle 2 0 Man City
Newcastle 1 0 Bolton
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
3 Newcastle 24 14 3 7 40-31 9 45
7 Spurs 24 11 5 8 35-34 1 38
Shearer has scored 17 goals this season, 14 of them in the league. Bellamy has 8 to his name, 6 of which were in the league. Most of the midfield have been chipping in their fair share too. They have played 4 out of their last six games at home, all of which they have won. In fact, Newcastle have won 12 of their 13 games at St. James' Park. They are top of the form league at home, but have a moderate away record, having won just twice at Birmingham and Aston Villa. The Toon's old "bogey" of struggling to win in London persists, as they have failed in their 3 previous visits to London at Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham, where they did at least get a draw.
In the match one month ago, three of the Newcastle midfield succumbed to injury. These were Solano, Dyer and Speed. Both Solano and Dyer are back in action, and young Jenas is proving his worth in the middle. The goalscoring machine that is Shearer, and the ever pacy Bellamy will give the Spurs back line real trouble. One wonders what Steffen Freund's morale will be like if he gets picked by Hoddle, having imparted the news to our cult hero that he will be released at the end of the season. Will Freund get picked again? Or will Goran Bunjevcevic take over the holding role, until "Kazu" Toda is ready to slot in? Will Glenn revert to 3-5-2, or will Deano and Ledley dominate in a traditional defensive line-up?
Can Spurs beat a team above them in the league for the second time in three games? Can they put another third round defeated side to the sword, as they did Everton and Villa. Newcastle after all, are demonstrating Champions League credentials for the second successive year, and will be just as keen for all three points as will Spurs, as both teams continue the quest for a passport to Europe albeit on the first or second class route.
Both teams will be fresh, as they had no Cup action last week-end. It should be an entertaining game, with at least three goals. I'll take Spurs to win by the odd goal, and I'll believe we can qualify for Europe if we take four points from the next two games, which means at least a draw on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
