Tottenham HotspurNewcastle United

On paper, Tottenham-Newcastle is a matchup between two teams trying to find their form, but the way this one plays out will likely be heavily influenced by Spurs' injury and suspension situation. At home, the back line is full of holes in several spots: Cristian Romero is suspended, Destiny Udogie is injured, and there are more absentees in the squad, which hurts both the defensive structure and playing out from the back. That lines up with the recent trend that Tottenham have conceded at least two goals in several straight league games, and they have not been winning much at home lately either.

Newcastle's league form is not flawless either, especially away from home: there have been plenty of draws and defeats this season, and their away games often do not turn into goal fests. That said, the visitors have a few reliable sources of goals on the attacking side based on the player stats (Barnes, Gordon, Woltemade), while the goalkeeper numbers for Nick Pope look solid overall (good save efficiency, relatively low goals conceded per match).

Overall, the 1X2 outcome is hard to call (both sides are on a bad run), but because of Spurs' defensive issues, Newcastle to score and the visitors' "not to lose" angle look stronger. The main uncertainty: Tottenham's forced solutions in the back line and the extreme in-game swings that can come with that.