We look ahead to Sunday’s Premier League game at St James’ Park with our Newcastle vs Tottenham prediction and preview. Two teams who have picked up four points from their opening two matches will be looking to land an early blow in the race for Europe.
Newcastle vs Tottenham Stats: The Key Insights
- The Opta supercomputer has Newcastle United as very slight favourites to come away with the three points against Spurs on Sunday, with the Magpies winning 38.7% of pre-match simulations.
- Newcastle were fouled more times than any other side in the opening two matchday of the Premier League this season (35), with Bruno Guimaraes (12) and Anthony Gordon (eight) the two most fouled players in the division.
- Tottenham Hotspur had more touches in the opposition box than any other Premier League side across MD 1 and MD 2 (95), while only Ipswich (99) and Leicester (93) have allowed their opponents more touches in their own box than Newcastle (75).
Newcastle United host Tottenham Hotspur this Sunday as two teams with European aspirations clash at St James’ Park.
Each side has won one and drawn one of their opening two matches, with Newcastle narrowly beating promoted Southampton on the opening weekend before drawing at Bournemouth, while Tottenham drew away at Leicester City and then hammered Everton 4-0.
However, Tottenham’s superior goal difference means they head into Sunday’s game in fifth, with Newcastle just behind in sixth.
Sunday’s game should provide goals, with Newcastle against Tottenham the most played fixture in Premier League history to never finish 0-0.
In fact, only Liverpool against Tottenham (191) and Arsenal against Liverpool (190) have seen more goals than this in the competition (186), while there have been 34 goals in the last seven meetings alone (4.9 per game).
Newcastle are especially formidable in front of goal at home, scoring at least once in each of their last 20 Premier League home games. Only once have they had a longer scoring streak at St James’ Park in the competition, going 24 games between January 1995 and February 1996.
That could be worrying news for Spurs, who have now won just three of their last 14 on the road, drawing five and losing six. That follows the strong start to last season in which they went unbeaten in their first six Premier League away matches, winning four of them.
They’ll have to keep a watchful eye on Alexander Isak, who has scored twice in both of his two Premier League home games against Tottenham. Only two players have scored two or more goals in three consecutive home appearances against a club in the competition – Alan Shearer vs Everton (1992 to 1994) Chris Sutton vs Liverpool (1994 to 1996).
But Tottenham have attacking firepower of their own with the likes of Son Heung-min and James Maddison, the latter of whom has provided an assist in four of his last five Premier League games, including both matches so far this season. No Tottenham player has ever assisted a goal in each of their first three games in a single campaign before.
Tottenham have had seven shots on target in both of their Premier League matches so far this season, while also having nine against Sheffield United on the final day of last season. The last time they had seven or more shots on target in four consecutive league games was between December and January in the 2012-13 campaign (five).
In terms of team news, Eddie Howe has a headache at centre-back with Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles out injured, while Fabian Schär is still suspended after his red card against Southampton.
Tottenham, meanwhile, will be without Rodrigo Bentancur, Dominic Solanke and Richarlison, though Micky van de Ven is expected to be fit.
Newcastle vs Tottenham Head-to-Head
Newcastle have won three of their last four Premier League meetings with Tottenham, as many as in their previous 13 (two draws, eight defeat). Three of their last five league victories against Tottenham have been by at least a four-goal margin.
Tottenham, meanwhile, have lost their last two Premier League away games against Newcastle by an aggregate score of 10-1. They’d only lost two of their previous 11 such visits to St James’ Park (six wins, three draws).
The last meeting between the sides back in April ended in a humiliating defeat for Tottenham, who were thumped 4-0 at St James’ Park after a brace from Isak and goals from Anthony Gordon and Fabian Schar.
Newcastle vs Tottenham Prediction
Home advantage could prove vital for Newcastle this weekend, and led by a vociferous crowd at St James’ Park, they win in 38.7% of the Opta supercomputer’s 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Ange Postecoglou’s side, meanwhile, walk away from Sunday’s game with the three points themselves 37.7% of the time. A draw, which perhaps wouldn’t be a bad result for either team, occurs in 23.6% of simulations.
Both sides are expected to be gunning for the European spots this season, though it’s Newcastle who are given the higher chance of finishing in the top four, doing so in 22.6% of simulations to Tottenham’s 16.7%. However, Opta is predicting Newcastle to just miss out, with fifth their most likely finish, while Tottenham are anticipated to end the season in sixth.
Newcastle vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups
Newcastle United: Nick Pope, Lloyd Kelly, Dan Burn, Emil Krafth, Tino Livramento, Joelinton, Bruno Guimarães, Sean Longstaff, Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy, Alexander Isak.
Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert, Brennan Johnson, Son Heung-Min.
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.