Everything on... Newcastle United

We welcome Newcastle United to Wembley on Saturday lunchtime (12.30pm).

It was against the Magpies that we got our season underway as we bagged three points on the opening day of the campaign back in August with a 2-1 win at St James’ Park.

Here’s all you need to know on our north-eastern opponents ahead of this weekend’s encounter…

Team news

On Thursday’s transfer deadline day, Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez added Italian defender Antonio Barreca and Paraguayan midfielder Miguel Almiron to his squad, but it will only be the former who will be in contention to make his debut against us on Saturday as Almiron is yet to receive a work permit.

Benitez remains without Mohamed Diame, Karl Darlow, Joselu, Paul Dummett, Ki Sung-Yueng, Rob Elliot and Jonjo Shelvey due to injury.

One to watch

Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka has been one of the standout players on Tyneside since he arrived in the north-east back in January, 2018.

Having started his career at home town club Zilina in Slovakia, Dubravka would go on to spend two years in Denmark with Esbjerg before heading to the Czech Republic for spells with Slovan Liberec and Sparta Prague. From the Czech capital, the keeper moved to north-east England and since landing in the Premier League just over a year ago, the shot stopper hasn’t looked back.

The 30-year-old initially joined the Magpies on loan until the end of the 2017/18 season but after a series of impressive displays, including his debut performance where he kept a clean sheet to help his side seal a 1-0 win over Manchester United, he signed permanently until 2022.

This campaign, the Slovakian international is yet to miss a single minute in the league and has kept seven clean sheets in that run.

Last five meetings

11 August, 2018 – Newcastle 1-2 Spurs – Premier League
9 May 2018 – Spurs 1-0 Newcastle – Premier League
13 August, 2017 – Newcastle 0-2 Spurs – Premier League
15 May, 2016 – Newcastle 5-1 Spurs – Premier League
13 December, 2015 – Spurs 1-2 Newcastle – Premier League

Previous clash

We started this season just as we started the last, as we sealed victory over Newcastle United at St James’ Park back in August.

In our 2017/18 season opener, we clinched a 2-0 win in the north-east thanks to goals from Dele Alli and Ben Davies and at the start of this campaign it was a very similar story, as we recorded a 2-1 triumph.

Jan Vertonghen opened the scoring on eight minutes as he headed the ball just far enough over the line for the goal-line technology to signal that we had taken the lead, but within three minutes our hosts had levelled through Joselu.

It didn’t take long for us to find our winner, though, as we earned all three points on 18 minutes through another headed effort, this time from Dele.

Newcastle’s form

The Magpies will be in buoyant mood coming into Saturday's clash at Wembley, as they came from behind on Tuesday to defeat Manchester City for the first time in the Premier League since 2005.

Sergio Aguero had given the Citizens the lead with just 24 seconds gone but a valiant second-half performance from Benitez's side saw Salomon Rondon grab the equaliser before Matt Ritchie secured all three points from the spot.

That win made it two consecutive league triumphs for the Magpies after they had soared to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Cardiff City a week earlier, ending a run of five games without a win.

Magic moment

Emmanuel Adebayor had a hand in each of our goals as we fired home five without reply against Newcastle back in February, 2012.

Spending the season with us on loan from Manchester City, the Togolese forward was in the thick of the action right from the off and after making his way into the box, he picked out Benoit Assou-Ekotto at the back post, who then had the easy job of tapping the ball into the open net to give us the lead on four minutes.

Just two minutes later, Louis Saha volleyed in Adebayor's cross to double the lead and in similar fashion, the duo linked up once again on 20 minutes as Saha doubled his own tally to make it three.

Niko Kranjcar would be the next to benefit from the work of the former Real Madrid striker as he fired in the rebound from Adebayor’s saved effort, giving us a 4-0 lead at half-time.

For all his efforts in the game, the striker would finally get his name on the scoresheet as he volleyed in on 64 minutes, after being teed up by strike partner Saha, completing our 5-0 win.

Played for both

Academy graduate Stephen Carr made over 200 appearances for us after making his Spurs debut in 1993 before swapping north London for north-east England in 2004.

After making his way through our youth system, Carr established himself in our first team as he demonstrated his talents as an attacking full-back. His threat on the front foot made him a nightmare for opposing defenders to deal with, especially with the quality of his deliveries. In 1999, he was part of George Graham’s side that lifted the League Cup and, in both 2001 and 2003, the right-back’s talent was recognised by the PFA as they placed him in their Team of the Year – ahead of the likes of Gary Neville and Lee Dixon.

In 2004, the Republic of Ireland international would move to Newcastle, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2006, before moving on to Birmingham City where he was part of the Blues team that beat Arsenal in the League Cup Final in 2011.

What they're saying

Newcastle manager Benitez spoke to the media on Friday afternoon ahead of his side's Saturday lunchtime visit to Wembley and the Spaniard admitted he was pleased with his transfer window dealings and is hoping his charges can continue their strong recent form in the Premier League.

"I am happier now than I was one week ago. Why? Because we won against Manchester City and we have brought in two players," he explained. "They bring us something we didn’t have. We needed to fill some gaps in terms of position and characteristic of players.

"They are offensive players and play in a position that we needed so we are better than before because if we have problems, we have them and if they give us what we are expecting, we will be in a better position.

"After Watford, everyone was very negative. After beating Man City, we have won two games at home in a row in the Premier League. Everyone has more confidence now and we have to make sure we keep doing the same."