Newcastle have been mightily impressive over the course of the season but are looking for a bounce-back here. Villa, and in particular Ollie Watkins, were very good last weekend and dominated the Toon from minute one and Eddie Howe will be looking for a reaction.

Before that, they had won five in a row, scoring 13 goals in that time and conceding just four. Both Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson are capable of starting for most sides in the Premier League and the two of them competing for the starting position up front seems to bring the best out of each other. Wilson has scored 10 goals in 1392 minutes this season and Isak has scored eight in 905.

They have combined for eight goals and one assist between them in the last six games alone, and whilst both haven’t started a game together yet this season, Eddie Howe has shown tactical adaptability to allow both to play together – which worked to great effect at Brentford in the second half. Miguel Almiron should come back into the side and as the team’s top scorer, he will help the team going forward as well.

Defensively, Newcastle have conceded just nine league goals here all season, keeping eight clean sheets. Five of those came against Manchester City and Liverpool and Spurs aren’t showing that they are capable of taking the game to Newcastle in the same way as those two sides did.

Spurs are in a real mess, and they look like they need some serious changes from top to bottom. They have won just two of their last eight in all competitions – a favourable run where they have faced teams they’d expect to beat, including Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Everton and Bournemouth.

In their last nine away matches, they have won just two – Fulham and Preston – and are winless in six. They have drawn two (Southampton and Everton) and lost two (Sheffield United and Wolves) of their last four on the road and this will be a much sterner test for them against a Newcastle side that beat them 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in October.

Failing to win here would be their longest winless run on the road since 2019. Their 45 goals conceded is the second highest of any team in the top 15 of the division and they are without a league clean sheet since February.

Miguel Almiron is Newcastle’s top scorer with 11 Premier League goals so far this season and he has been missed in recent weeks by the Northern club, despite Wilson and Isak being in good form. Anthony Gordon, the Paraguayan’s replacement, has not hit the ground running since joining from Everton in January and this should mean that Almiron starts here.

He was a bright spark in his 35 minutes off the bench at Villa last week, having two shots. At St James’ Park this season, he has played 1243 minutes across 17 appearances in all competitions, scoring five goals. He has had 34 shots in those games, with at least one in all bar one of them. Of those, 16 have been on target and this selection has landed in 13 of the 17 appearances. At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this season, he had six shots and scored once.

Newcastle have taken 200 corners this season, the joint most in the Premier League along with Manchester City and ten more than anyone else. They have had at least five corners in 73% of their games, rising to 86% at home. In five of their last six and eight of their last ten here, this selection has landed. Spurs have conceded an average of 5.53 corners per game on the road so far this season, with this selection landing in 60% of those games.

Newcastle home games average 3.87 cards so far this season, with the Toon being booked 1.73 times and their opponents being booked 2.13. This selection has landed in exactly half of their games. Spurs games average 4.16 cards per game, and both teams have averaged over two cards per game in their matches (2.13 for Spurs and 2.03 for the other team).

There have been four or more cards in 58% of their games and in six of their last ten. This is a huge game for both teams as they battle for Champions League positions which should mean that there will be plenty of challenges and fouls.

The referee for this one is David Coote, who across his career averages 3.86 cards per game. This season in the Premier League, he has officiated 17 games, showing 61 cards at an average of 3.59 per match. This season he has been in charge of two Spurs games.

The first was a 2-2 draw at Brentford on Boxing Day where he showed four cards, and the second was a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park a few weeks ago, where he gave out three bookings and two red cards – one to each side. He is yet to officiate a Newcastle match.