Spurs will look to begin 2025 on a high when they welcome Newcastle United to London at 12:30 on January 4. Ange Postecoglou’s side are looking to recover from a difficult festive period where they lost to Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and could only draw at home to Wolves. Here is our Tottenham Hotspur predicted lineup as the Lilywhites take on Eddie Howe’s in-form Geordies.
Tottenham Hotspur Predicted Lineup Vs Newcastle United
How Tottenham Hotspur Have Lined Up Recently
The main reason for Tottenham’s recent struggles is their fitness issues in defence. At 36, Fraser Forster should not be starting for a team looking to qualify for Europe. However, a serious injury to Guglielmo Vicario has seen the veteran start ten matches in a row.
Other injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero have forced Postecoglou to start 18-year-old midfielder Archie Gray at centre-back. This problem has been made bigger by the fact that 22-year-old Radu Dragusin hasn’t looked quite ready to start regularly in his biggest run in the side since joining nearly a year ago.
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Rodrigo Bentancur has returned from suspension and looked a lot better against Wolves, scoring his second league goal of the season. Postecoglou rotates his midfield more than any other position and James Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr were the victims of that rotation last time out. Dejan Kulusevski moves into midfield to accommodate Brennan Johnson on the right-wing. The pair combined for Spurs’ second goal against Vitor Pereira’s side, justifying their manager’s decision.
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In attack, Heung-min Son has been a shadow of his former self this season, scoring just five goals in fifteen league starts. The 32-year-old’s form has raised doubt about his suitability to Postecoglou’s style and his place in the squad would be under threat if Spurs had a suitable replacement. Dominic Solanke continues to adapt to life in London and will hope to end his two-game scoreless run this weekend.
Tottenham Hotspur Recent Form and Tactics
Tottenham continue to stick to their 4-3-3 formation but have used different variations of their midfield three in recent weeks. Against Wolves, Bentancur and Yves Bissouma lined up as a double pivot with Kulusevski allowed the freedom to join Solanke in attack. Previously, the Mali international has been the sole holding midfielder with the latter and Maddison playing as box-to-box midfielders.
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Spurs’ recent form has been abysmal when compared with their on-fire opponents. Newcastle have won five games in a row with highlights including a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Boxing Day and a 2-0 win over Manchester United. On the other hand, Tottenham haven’t won since a 4-3 cup win over the Red Devils and have only won one of their last seven league games.
All the odds are stacked against Postecoglou’s side but he will hoping for a repeat of the last time the two sides met over in winter. On December 10, 2023, Tottenham ran out 4-1 winners thanks to goals from Son, Richarlison, and Destiny Udogie.
Tottenham Injuries and Suspensions to Consider
Tottenham were hit with another blow against Wolves when Udogie left the game with a hamstring injury. Postecoglou put the injury down to the amount of minutes the left-back has been forced to play with Spurs’ current injury situation. Bentancur is suspended once again after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.
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Tottenham’s injury list is slowly getting smaller but Vicario (ankle), Richarlison (thigh), Ben Davies (thigh), Wilson Odobert (thigh), Romero (Thigh), and Van de Ven (thigh) all remain out.
Tottenham Hotspur Predicted Lineup Vs Wolves
GK: Fraser Forster
RB: Pedro Porro
CB: Radu Dragusin
CB: Archie Gray
LB: Djed Spence
CM: Yves Bissouma
CM: Pape Matar Sarr
AM: James Maddison
RW: Dejan Kulusevski
ST: Dominic Solanke
LW: Heung-min Son
