The Daly Brief | Spurs vs Newcastle, Premier League | OneFootball

"Newcastle have struggled away from home this season – but their recent draw at Paris Saint-Germain showed they can tactically mix it up, while boasting various attacking options too..."

Rob Daly, official club commentator, presenter and pundit

How are Newcastle doing on the road?

The Magpies have won just two of their 12 Premier League away games this season – those successes coming at Everton (November) and Burnley (December). Their only additional victory on the road, in all competitions, was a 4-0 thrashing of Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League. "It has been a problem for us all season, there is no getting away from that fact,” admitted Eddie Howe after a recent 4-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, followed up days later by Carabao Cup elimination at Manchester City. "We have to keep looking for solutions. We’re in a tough run with a lot of away fixtures so we’re going to be really finely tuned and hope we can solve our away form." At Anfield, they led through Anthony Gordon’s strike but went on to suffer defeat, meaning they have dropped 16 points from winning positions.

Where are the goals coming from?

It was always going to be difficult to replace a striker like Alexander Isak, who scored 27 times in 42 games during the 2024/25 campaign. "Let’s put this right - Liverpool paid the money they did because he's an outstanding footballer, an unbelievable talent,” said Howe recently. “When you take that player away from your team, it's going to change the dynamics, that's for sure. Then you have to try to find a way of, not replacing him, but finding a player or players who can still make the team really effective.” Strikers Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa have nine and three goals respectively, although the latter has missed much of the season through injury. Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon are both into double figures but, bizarrely, the vast majority of those goals have come in Europe and cup competitions.

How will Eddie Howe play this one?

Newcastle generally line up 4-3-3, which turns into 4-5-1 out of possession. However, a switch to a 3-4-3 formation helped them claim a recent draw at PSG, with Malik Thiaw, Sven Botman and Dan Burn in a three-man defence while using Lewis Miley and Lewis Hall as wing-backs. “If you want to call it a Plan B - I’m happy. We have lots of ways, formation-wise, we can play, but the principles don’t change,” detailed The Magpies’ manager. Whether Howe lines up with a recognised striker or not can also determine their approach.

What will they do in attack?

Gordon (injured at Manchester City last week) has been used as a number nine when Newcastle want to be explosive on the counter, using the additional pace of players like Barnes, Anthony Elanga and Jacob Murphy out wide. Wissa can also do that through the middle, but Woltemade plays with his back to goal - linking up with team-mates and looking to get on the end of crosses. How Newcastle press will be interesting too. Against City in the Carabao Cup semi-final last week, they went aggressive with their man-to-man marking all over the pitch, attempting to force errors from the hosts, who had a 2-0 first leg lead. However, Pep Guardiola’s side were smart, like when Tijjani Reijnders spun away from centre-back Sven Botman, who had followed him deep into enemy territory, to charge up the other end and score. Crucial players have been absent recently too, like Bruno Guimaeres, Joelinton, Tino Livramento and Fabian Schar – which hasn’t made life easy for Eddie Howe in navigating four competitions.

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