please log in to view this image Saturday 2nd February 12.30pm Premier League Wembley Stadium Our domestic cup woes have been put behind us and we're back to winning ways in dramatic fashion. All of the sides around us dropped points, some of our absentees returned and Llorente scored a goal. The Geordies had a big win themselves, despite going behind after 24 seconds. Rafa Benitez knows how to drag a win from a team, despite finances or personnel. Can he spring another surprise or will we be able to overcome our firepower problems? Newcastle came into the season with low expectations, having done fairly limited business in the summer. Various fringe players moved on for quite large sums, but the investment made in return was pretty small. Expectations of a tough campaign were proven correct from the off, as they started disastrously. The first ten matches didn't turn up a single win, as they drew 3 and lost 7, crashing to the foot of the table. Their fortunes have reversed somewhat since that low point. Three wins on the bounce pushed them out of the relegation zone and they only revisited it once since. A tough run of Liverpool, Watford, Man Utd and Chelsea returned a single point, fairly predictably. A convincing win over fellow strugglers Cardiff and the shock defeat of City have pulled them clear again. Confidence should be high and a cold, early start could help them stifle the crowd for this one. Our campaign kicked off at St James' Park and we came out of the box quickly. Jan Vertonghen scored after 8 minutes, as goalline technology proved that his header had gone 9mm over. The lead didn't last though, as Joselu headed home an equaliser three minutes later from a Ritchie cross. Dele Alli restored the lead after 18 minutes and the score remained the same til the end. The home side had a few chances to nick a point, but didn't meaningfully test Lloris: The match at Wembley last season was a tight, cagey affair in the penultimate league game. We were in fairly poor form and wasted our dominant possession during a goalless first half. Kane placed one home just after the break, having played a slow one-two with Son on the edge of the box. Jonjo Shelvey's passing continued to cause us problems all game though, making it an edgy victory. It sealed Champions League qualification and the relief was palpable: No injury news yet, but it seems unlikely that we'll have any more players returning to fitness. Newcastle will miss Ki. They have added Barreca and Almiron in the last couple of days, though. Neither side has any suspensions. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Aurier, Sissoko, Winks, Eriksen, Rose; Llorente, Son. Subs: Gazzaniga, Trippier, Walker-Peters, Dier, Skipp, Lamela, Moura. League form: WLWLWW. Newcastle: Dubravka; Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Lejeune, Ritchie; Perez, Hayden, Longstaff, Atsu; Rondon. Subs: Woodman, Manquillo, Clark, Fernandez, Kenedy, Murphy, Roberts. League form: LDLLWW. Referee: Andre Marriner. TV: Sky Sports. How would the match against Watford influence your team selection for this one? Should we stick with three at the back, which we started with, or switch to the four which ended the game? Should Moura make the first XI or would you prefer his impact from the bench?
Newcastle's new signing Almiron won't play apparently because of waiting for a work permit.Though apparently Barreca is going to be available. I've got some good friends up in Newcastle so bragging rights on the line for me on Saturday as well. I still haven't heard the last of them belting us the season Leicester won the league. I'd go with the same starting XI with the exception of KWP in for Aurier. Moura is having more of an impact from the bench for me. Then again Sanchez has been a bit dodgy recently so if we went 4-2-3-1 with Moura, Eriksen and Son behind Llorente, that could be a good option. Dier might rotate into the midfield as well if we think Sissoko or Winks need a rest.
What I'd like: Gazza KWP, Toby, Jan, Rose Dier, Sissoko Lucas, Eriksen, Son Llorente What I think: Hugo Toby, Dave, Jan Tripps, Winks, Dier, Rose Eriksen, Son Llorente
Respect to Llorente https://www.skysports.com/football/...harry-kanes-back-up-at-tottenham-is-difficult Hope we play to his strengths...he's very important to us
Ticket sales look a lot better for tomorrow's game. Nearly all of the lower tier are sold but Club Wembley at £50-£70 is proving a little harder to shift. Maybe 40,000 tickets sold but I fear the weather and early kick off might affect people's decision to go. Let's make some noise and get this won!
I think we may go with a back four as Pochettino may feel free to play all our best attacking players due to the week break before the next match. Trippier Alderweireld Vertonghen Rose Dier Sissoko Eriksen Moura Llorente Son
I'd just like to see him taken off set-pieces entirely. We need to address a lot of things about them, in my opinion.
They were shocking on Wednesday, having been piss poor for a while now. We can't deal with corners at either end. It's very poor given that we're not a small team, like Chelsea or Liverpool, who defend corners so much better than we do.
We look completely disorganised on them. Players just sort of amble about near the opposition at both ends. The deliveries are routinely awful, virtually always hitting the first man and there's no thought to tactics, as far as I can see. We pull everyone back to defend corners, for example, when Son and Moura aren't much help there and should be left up.
I think that the quality of our corners is so bad now that there is no expectation in our lads that the ball will ever reach them - hence the 'distant' ambling about
Lloris Tripps Toby Dave Jan Winks Sissoko Lamela Eriksen Lucas Son Nandos on the bench, as is Rose. Its an odd selection, two LBs (well one of them is KWP but you know) on the bench but it looks like Jan is playing there from the off. Llorente just looked like he was coming into something vaguely resembling form but he's benched.
