Newcastle v Tottenham - Pain Preview

Did anyone think we would be playing in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup yet to win a league game and with our manager's future hanging in the balance? I know I didn't. He may have won much bigger honours with Sevilla but this Carling Cup tie is one of the biggest games in Juande Ramos' career. Does he have what it takes to get a result against what is probably the most underachieving team in the Premiership currently apart from ourselves or will this game spell the beginning of the end for Wendy.

Team News

Roman Pavlyuchenko may be rested for Tottenham with team mate Jermain Jenas this week claiming the Russian hitman is 'tired'. Frazier Campbell is being rumoured to make his full debut.

Luka Modric is still struggling with a knee injury but may make the bench while Alan Hutton is still on the long term injury list.

Obafemi Martins returns for Newcastle but they are still without a host of players including Guthrie, Barton and Viduka.

Head To Head

Newcastle seem to have the upper hand in recent times, having 4-1 at White Hart Lane towards the back end of last season.

Recent Form

As we know all too well, Spurs have had their worst start to a season for sometime and have not played well at all since winning the Carling Cup last February.

Newcastle got four points from their first two league games but have looked in turmoil since Kevin Keegan's departure, losing three league games on the bounce.

Conclusion

To be perfectly honest I feel absolutely sick that our season could well rest on this fixture. Newcastle are probably in a worse state than us, but only just. I can see this being very cagey, possibly another 0-0, but if one team has the bottle to go out, take the game by the scruff of the neck and get an early goal, it could be enough to take whatever stuffing is left out the other side.

Best Bets

0-0 at 10/1 with Paddy Power and 0-1 at 8/1 also with Paddy Power.

Fraizer Campbell to score at anytime at 12/5 with Skybet.