22 days after brushing them aside 3-1 at St James Park, Newcastle travel to Spurs on Sunday looking to do the double over the North London side in less than a month. White Hart Lane is not a happy hunting ground for the Toon as they have only managed to pick up 2 victories there in the Premiership in their last 9 visits. With thing going well at home for Tottenham, can the Magpies upset the odds?

2007 got off to a good start on New Years Day with a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester United in which they battled and showed their strength to upset the Premiership leaders. Spurs achieved the same at Fratton Park when they came from behind to draw 1-1 with Portsmouth. Both teams are also still to qualify for the fourth round of the FA Cup with both drawing away from home with Birmingham and Cardiff respectively.

The transfer window is open and things are currently quiet at the club. With a big injury crisis and a few players falling short of the required quality, Newcastle better do some buying soon. It’s time to focus on getting 3 points first though away from home for the first time since early December at Blackburn.

Tottenham (from): Robinson. Cerny, Alnwick, Chimbonda, Lee, Davenport, Dawson, Gardner, Assou-Ekotto, Zokora, Davids, Tainio, Lennon, Keane, Berbatov, Defoe, Murphy, Ghaly, Malbranque, Huddlestone, Ziegler.

Newcastle (from): Given, Harper, Solano, Edgar, Taylor, Huntington, Parker, Butt, Emre, Milner, Pattison, Troisi, Gate, Martins, Dyer, Sibierski, Luque, Carroll, LuaLua.

Newcastle’s Emre is set to return to the starting lineup following his groin injury which kept him out of the game Birmingham. He is currently the centre of controversy after being charged with racially abusing Everton’s Joseph Yobo but should still play on Sunday.

Scott Parker will return and Stevie Harper is expected to return to his place on the bench following his hernia operation while Nicky Butt (virus) is still on the long injury list. Ledley King and Jermaine Jenas both miss out for Spurs with their respective injuries while Mido (groin) is doubtful and Robbie Keane and Aaron Lennon make the squad.

Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder:

On Kieron Dyer:

“He is certainly a very happy man around the place.

“Kieron is just going to get better and better between now and the end of the season. The more match practice he gets, the better he will become.

“He is one of the main figures in the squad. He is given a lot of respect by the rest of the players because of his ability and how he is as a person.”

On Transfer Latest:

“We make some progress everyday but sometimes that can be finding out that a player you want is not for sale.

“We are working through a small list of players, but I don’t want to sign players on three-and-a-half year contracts who will help us through to the end of the season, only for me to regret signing them in the summer.

“We have the option to sign two loan players and at the very least I’m determined to do that.

“But we’re not just going to sign players for the sake of it, you could sign a bad player everyday of the transfer window if you wanted to.”

Spurs Boss Martin Jol:

On Fixture Pile up:

“The only thing I’m happy about is that we’re playing all these games, because it means we are doing well and are in all the competitions.

“It’s ideal because that’s what we wanted at the start of the season.”

On Edgar Davids:

“I asked him because I want to be clear and he told me there has been no approach. I told him there has been no approach from any clubs.

“Of course a player like Edgar Davids, he is still very fit and wants to play.

“If there are no other clubs interested in him I would be happy to keep him here and he is happy to stay.

“If someone is interested in a player of ours they should pick up the phone and give us a call.”

Shay Given

Nolberto Solano
Peter Ramage
Steven Taylor
Paul Huntington

James Milner
Kieron Dyer
Scott Parker
Emre

Obafemi Martins
Antoine Sibierski

In the League:

Played: 125
Newcastle Wins: 43
Draws: 28
Tottenham Wins: 54

In the FA Cup:

Played: 9
Newcastle Wins: 5
Draws: 2
Tottenham Wins: 2

In the League Cup:

Played: 2
Newcastle Wins: 1
Draws: 0
Tottenham Wins: 1

Other:

Played: 1
Newcastle Wins: 0
Draws: 0
Tottenham Wins: 1

I think Newcastle will earn a draw at WHL. Spurs are tough and they are very tough to beat at home. The Magpies haven’t won or scored there in a few years but with Martins and Dyer in the team, I think we will score on Sunday; 1-1.

Howay the Lads!