Premier League 
St James’ Park is the venue for a pivotal game in the battle for Champions League football as Newcastle united are set to host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.
The Magpies are currently occupying the fourth place in the Premier League table and are just three points beneath Manchester United in 3rd and three points above Tottenham in 5th. With just eleven fixtures left in their campaign, Eddie Howe’s side are in a prime position to secure Champions League football next year.
After losing the Carabao Cup final at the end of February, Newcastle have managed to respond well, winning five of their seven league games since. This run has included an impressive 2-0 victory over Manchester United and a 5-1 thrashing of West Ham.
However last time out, Newcastle were convincingly defeated by Aston Villa, in a game where Ollie Watkins starred. Eddie Howe’s side never got to grips with the movement of Watkins, in front of the watching Gareth Southgate, and his header on the stretch teed up Jacob Ramsey to fire in a deserved opener after 10 minutes of play.
Aston Villa didn’t have to wait too long to double their lead, when shortly after the hour mark, Watkins spun in the area to fire past Nick Pope. Watkins bagged his second of the game in the last ten minutes, as he fired past Nick Pope from Emi Buendia’s cross, condemning the Magpies to their heaviest defeat since December 2021.
A loss last time out leaves Tottenham in fifth place in the table, one spot and three points beneath Newcastle, who also have a game in hand. Failure to convert leads into wins has cost Spurs as they have failed to win three of their last four outings despite boasting leads in the game.
Tottenham’s form has been inconsistent in recent weeks, with Cristian Stellini’s side having recorded impressive victories against Brighton and Nottingham Forest but failing to take all three points from fixtures against relegation-threatened sides such as Southampton and Everton.
Similarly to Newcastle, Cristian Stellini’s side suffered a gut-wrenching defeat last weekend. Dango Ouattara scored the game’s fifth and final goal in the dying seconds of the game to complete an unlikely comeback victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
There have been 167 competitive meetings between these sides, of which Tottenham have won 73, Newcastle 60 and there have been 34 draws. Tottenham have dominated this fixture’s recent history, having won seven of the last eleven meetings.
It was Newcastle who recorded a slender victory when these sides met in the reverse fixture earlier on in their campaign. First-half goals by Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron, both aided by mistakes from Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, put Newcastle in control after Tottenham had started brightly. Harry Kane managed to find a response however Eddie Howe’s side managed to hold onto their 2-1 lead.
It is the home side who are heavily favoured at the bookies ahead of this one and are currently priced @ ⅘, whilst an away victory for Tottenham is priced @ 16/5 and a draw is @ 11/4. We are backing Newcastle to win and over 2.5 goals because their past four matches have averaged 3.5 goals.