The international break is over and it’s time to forget about the failings of McClaren and hope that Big Sam will make that pain go away. Newcastle host Spurs at St James Park on Monday night, live on Setanta Sports. With Owen and Martins set to partner each other up front, how will the Magpies do? We asked out panel as always.

Rich

“The reality that England might not be taking part in Euro 2008 next summer has only just begun to sink in this weekend and this combined with last night’s loss to South Africa in the Rugby World Cup Final means that I’m at a bit of a low ebb sports-wise. Of course, Sunday brings about Lewis Hamilton’s attempt at creating numerous new lines in the history books to hopefully temper the sadness somewhat, but Monday night has the potential to be the real pick-me-up that I’m looking for. Tottenham Hotspur currently lie 18th in the Premiership and their big Dutch manager cuts a resilient (if somewhat beleaguered) figure these days - tomorrow night could be his final roll of the dice as Spurs boss and he and his players know it.

After that magical fightback to 4-4 at home to Aston Villa a few weeks ago, followed up by an incredibly impressive 2-2 draw at Anfield - where they were unlucky in the end to only get a point (how often do you hear that about visitors to Liverpool’s famous home stadium?) it’s plain to see that the players are fighting for their manager and that there could be life in the old dog yet. Quite simply, we have to put an end to this when we meet them at Gallowgate tomorrow. Apparently we’ve scored more Premiership goals against Tottenham than against any other team and recent form against this lot makes delightful reading - they most certainly don’t usually like coming this far North and we’ve torn into them the last two times we’ve faced them on home soil.

The prospect of the Oba/Owen combination up front is an intriguing one against an injury-stricken Spurs back line and the return of Joey Barton to the squad is a timely boost indeed. It’s all setting up to be one hell of a night of football. Like them or not, Tottenham have played their part in some of the best matches in recent Premiership times and their open, attacking style can be pulsating to watch, but is often their undoing - sound familiar? I know they’re not our favourite bunch here at Newcastle Online but that should do nothing but add more spice to this encounter.

I would have preferred Robinson to have been fit after his performances up here over the past two seasons, but Cerny will hopefully bring with him some nerves and a lack of communication. Personally, I can’t even contemplate losing this game - especially if Hamilton doesn’t succeed today in Brazil. It won’t be an easy match at all, but I’m expecting goals, cards, drama and another home win for us - and would JJ missing an open goal again be too much to ask? He’s bound to score this time… isn’t he?

Wildly Optimistic Prediction: Newcastle 4-2 Spurs”

Tom

“So, after the England debarcle, we’re finally back to the stuff that matters on Monday night (don’t you just love it when TV robs you of a weekend game?) at home to Spurs.

Given Spurs’ poor start to the season, it would be easy to suggest a nailed on home victory. Certainly all the form and statistics clearly point to that. But, for what it’s worth, I don’t think Spurs will finish anywhere near the bottom of the league. That means that at some point, their form will start to pick up,and with the likes of Berbatov, Defoe and Keane to choose from, they’re always going to be a threat up front. Nevertheless, we seem to be picking up points, even when we haven’t been at our best. With Emre and now Barton back after injuries, I’m hoping to see an improvement in the midfield.

I predict a 2-1 win for us.”

Greg

“We take on Tottenham on Monday night looking to extend our unbeaten record at St James’ Park so far this season, our best start sine 95/96. This game often brings many goals including a 7-1 drubbing for Spurs towards the end of the Keegan era, we’ve won 3-1 in the last two games at St James’ Park and have in fact scored more Premiership goals against Spurs than we have against anyone else.

It will not be an easy game despite the fact Spurs are sitting 17th in the table, they managed to come from 4-1 down against Aston Villa to get a point at home and then went to Anfield and only just missed out on taking all 3 points thanks to a very late Liverpool goal, there is no doubt they have the ability to cause us problems and have some quality players such as Berbatov.

Alan Smith misses out as he has picked up his 5th yellow card already and longer term casualties include Duff and Ramage, Carr and Babayaro are still nowhere near the first team thankfully! Viduka is struggling with a knock but has been named in the squad, Owen and Martins are expected to start upfront for the first time this season and Joey Barton should make his debut following his foot injury.

I’d like to see an unchanged defence and I think we will but I’m not sure how we will line up in midfield, with Owen and Oba set to start upfront I feel we need the passing ability of Emre in central midfield as lumping long balls to Owen and Oba will result in an easy afternoon for Dawson and his probably partner Kaboul, but if we can use the pace of Oba and Owen and passing ability of Emre then we should be able to stretch their defence as Dawson isn’t exactly the most mobile person about and Kaboul seems more interested in attacking than defending. Robinson misses out with a so called ‘injury’ and Radek Cerny will be in goal for Spurs, can’t say I know a great deal about him to be honest.

I think it will be a pretty tight game with goals for both sides but I can’t see far past a home victory.”

Midds

“For some reason the Spurs fixtures have taken on an added significance in recent years. Whether or not this coincides with the Top-4 becoming almost a ‘closed shop’ is debatable. This is another match which pits us against one of the better sides in the country despite their temporary poor league position. If anyone of us goes to the game expecting to brush them aside, then I’d suggest they’re in for a bit of a rude awakening. They’ll put out a team full of Internationals and have some very good players in key positions. Berbatov and Keane will cause problems for any team and our central defenders can not afford to lose concentration for a second. We’ve struggled to keep clean sheets all season and unfortunately I think one of them will score.

With Robinson ‘injured’, the weak link becomes their back four. With both Owen and Martins starting, the lumbering Dawson will be no match to any ball played into the channels. The sheer pace of Martins and Owen means they’ll naturally drop a little deeper and limit the space for them to run into. This means Milner and Zog can have a real go at their opposing full backs. It would be nice if we saw Joey Barton make his full debut to combat the threat of Zokora and Jenas and either Butt or Geremi will have to play well too.

The onus will be on us as the home team to start quickly and put them under pressure early. We need to dictate the tempo and keep them on the back foot as much as possible. I’m fairly confident that one of them will make an individual error and we need to take advantage. I can see it being quite tight and it should be a decent game, given the amount of talent on the park. We seem to have acquired the habit of winning tight games at home and if we get the first goal then we should go on to win it. I’m going for a narrow 2-1 win.”

Join us early next week for the Panel’s reaction to what we hope is another Monday night classic.