Newcastle v Tottenham Premier League Preview: Can Spurs End The Magpies 5-Game Unbeaten Run?

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Newcastle United play Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League at St James’ Park on Sunday.

Joe Kinnear’s Magpies go into this clash on a 5-game unbeaten run, but only one win in this streak against Portsmouth 3-0 at Fratton Park last Sunday, with draws against Stoke City, Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Wigan Athletic. However, Newcastle are still in the relegation fight and find themselves just 1 point off the drop zone in 14th place in the Premier League and just ahead of Sunday’s opposition Tottenham by virtue of goals scored.

Spurs go into this game on the back of a 0-0 draw with Premiership Champions Manchester United last Saturday at White Hart Lane, but still find themselves in the wrong half of the table in 15th place. Redknapp’s side have only lost twice in the league since his arrival from Portsmouth, but both of those defeats against Everton and Fulham have come in their last 5 matches, with wins against West Ham United and struggling Blackburn Rovers completing their results for this 5-match sequence.

Newcastle will be without strikers Obafemi Martins (groin) and Alan Smith (achilles) along with Joey Barton (knee) and Ignacio Gonzalez (achilles), with Mark Viduka and Michael Owen expected to lead the attack.

Redknapp has a growing injury list at White Hart Lane, with Giovanni (ankle), Alan Hutton (metatarsal), Jonathan Woodgate (back), Darren Bent (virus) and Jermaine Jenas (calf) all ruled out of the trip to the North East. Ledley King is still struggling with a persistent knee injury and is a doubt, but Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko are available after being cup-tied for the UEFA clash with Spartak Moscow on Thursday.

Newcastle United: (from) Given, Coloccini, Enrique, Bassong, Taylor, Cacapa, Guthrie, Owen, Duff, Harper, N’Zogbia, Xisco, Geremi, Beye, Butt, Ameobi, Kadar, Edgar, Tozer, Viduka, LuaLua, Carroll, Donaldson, Ranger

Tottenham Hotspur: (from) Gomes, Bale, King, Gunter, Woodgate, Corluka, Bentley, Huddlestone, Zokora, Gilberto, Lennon, Modric, Pavlyuchenko, Campbell, Cesar, Stalteri, Boateng, Rocha, Taarabt, Dawson, Ghaly, O’Hara, Assou-Ekotto

Tottenham v Man United Premier League Preview: To Boo Or Not To Boo? As Berbatov Returns To Spurs

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Tottenham Hotspur play, Manchester United in the Premier League at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

Harry Redknapp’s Spurs side will go into the clash with the Premiership Champions full of confidence, having won five of their eight Premier League matches since Redknapp arrived at White Hart Lane from Portsmouth. Despite this good run Tottenham still find, themselves just three points off the drop zone. In what has become a very tight and congested bottom half of the table. The return of Luka Modric last week against West Ham United saw the North London club get back to winning ways after losing to Everton the week before.

Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will have been relieved to, have scraped a 1-0 injury time win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light last week, which kept the Red Devils in touch at the top of the Premier League with Chelsea and Liverpool. The big talking point of the day, will be the return of Bulgarian International Dimitar Berbatov to his former club Spurs and the reaction the striker will get from the fans after leaving White Hart Lane in acrimonious circumstances in the summer.

Tottenham are unable to call on long-term injury Alan Hutton (metatarsal) and Giovanni (ankle) for the visit of United, with Redknapp likely to play either Roman Pavlychenko or Darren Bent in a lone strikers role against the European Champions.

Ferguson will be without Owen Hargreaves (knee) and Wes Brown (ankle) for the trip to White Hart Lane, while former Tottenham players Berbatov and Michael Carrick are to have late fitness tests along with England International Rio Ferdinand, who is also a doubt with a back problem. Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to feature after being rested in midweek, but Patrice Evra and Wayne Rooney are both suspended.

"Berbatov and Carrick are the main worries," Ferguson told MUTV.

"I'm sure Ronaldo will be okay. His hip is still a bit tender, but hopefully he'll be back."

Tottenham Hotspur: (from) Gomes, Bale, King, Woodgate, Corluka, Zokora, Huddlestone, Jenas, Lennon, Bentley, Bent, Modric, Pavlyuchenko, Cesar, Assou-Ekotto, Gunter, O’Hara, Stalteri, Campbell, Ghaly, Rocha, Boateng, Gilberto, Taarabt, Alnwick, Dawson

Manchester United: (from) Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Ronaldo, Anderson, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Vidic, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Welbeck, Fabio, Rafael, O’Shea, Evans, Fletcher, Manucho, Gibson, Kuszczak, Tevez, Possebon, Gray, Foster

Spurs v Blackburn Premiership Preview: Modric Out For Tottenham As Rovers Look To End 7-Game Winless Streak

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Tottenham Hotspur play, Paul Ince’s Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League at White Hart Lane on Sunday

Spurs will be full of confidence going into this clash with Blackburn, despite losing for the first time in seven games under new boss Harry Redknapp against Fulham at Craven Cottage last weekend. Tottenham are still in the relegation zone, but had won three out of the last four in the Premiership before the defeat to the Cottagers, with wins against Liverpool, Manchester City and Bolton and a draw against North London rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Redknapp will see this as a must win game against Rovers, who are just a point ahead of Tottenham in the table.

Ince will be hoping his Blackburn side can turn around a slump that has seen them take just 3 points out of a possible 21 in the last seven games, which has seen the North West club slide into the relegation zone. Rovers have not won since September, when they beat Newcastle United 2-1 at St James’ Park. Ince will be boosted by the fact that Blackburn have been better on their travels this season losing only twice compared with four times at Ewood Park, but will be happy to take anything away from White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Redknapp will be without his playmaker Luka Modric, who will be out for up to two weeks with a groin strain picked up against Fulham last weekend.

A statement on the club's official website read: “An MRI scan has revealed that Luka Modric has suffered a partially torn groin muscle. He was forced off with the injury at half-time in Saturday's match with Fulham and is expected to be sidelined for up to two weeks.”

While, Tottenham will also be without Giovanni Dos Santos (ankle) and Brazilian Gilberto (knee) for the visit of Blackburn. One selection dilemma for Redknapp is who to play up front, with Roman Pavlyuchenko, Darren Bent and Fraizer Campell, who was man-of the-match for the England Under-21 side in their win against the Czech Republic on Tuesday all in good goal-scoring form.

Blackburn will be without Brett Emerton (hamstring), Steven Reid (knee), Vince Grella (hamstring) and David Dunn (calf) for the crunch clash at White Hart Lane. Paul Robinson is set to face his former club for the first time since his summer move to Rovers and will want to show Spurs they were wrong to sell him after being shown the door at Tottenham by former manager Juande Ramos.

Tottenham Hotspur: (from) Gomes, Hutton, Bale, Zokora, Bentley, Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko, Bent, Stalteri, Ghaly, Gunter, Campbell, Taarabt, Dawson, Cesar, Corluka, Boateng, O’Hara, King, Assou-Ekotto, Rocha, Woodgate, Bostock, Dervite

Blackburn Rovers: (from) Robinson, Oojer, Warnock, Samba, Tugay, Nelsen, Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Pederson, Khizanishvili, Vogel, Mokoena, Andrews, Villanueva, Simpson, Fowler, Treacy, Derbyshire, Olsson, Roberts, Brown, Bunn