Timo Werner starts, five changes – Tottenham confirmed XI v Newcastle
Ange Postecoglou has made five changes to his Tottenham starting line-up to face Newcastle at home on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Fraser Forster, Guglielmo Vicario’s deputy, is ruled out due to illness, meaning Brandon Austin has been handed his Spurs debut.
Destiny Udogie is also sidelined after picking up an injury in the 2-2 draw with Wolves last Sunday (29 December), forcing Postecoglou to bring Djed Spence in.
Rodrigo Bentancur is serving a one-game suspension after accumulating five yellow cards, while Yves Bissouma and Son Heung-min have dropped to the bench.
Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall and Timo Werner have, therefore, handed starts against the Magpies.
Ange Postecoglou drops Son Heung-mon in Tottenham v Newcastle
Son has had a poor run of games, with his performance against Wolves leaving much to be desired.
Furthermore, he was also one of the players rumoured to be ill ahead of today’s game.
Although the South Korea international is fit enough to be named on the bench, Postecoglou has decided to give Werner a chance.
Whether that will work or not is anyone’s guess as Werner was far from impressive in his last start for Spurs, which came in their 1-1 UEFA Europa League draw with Rangers on 12 December.
According to FotMob, Werner failed to complete any of his three dribbles or two crosses.
The RB Leipzig loanee attempted five ground duels that day but failed to win a single one of them (zero per cent).
His only contributions were two passes into the final third and as many recoveries.
Looking at the bigger picture, Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray keep their places at centre-back and will play in front of Austin, while Pedro Porro and Spence will occupy the full-back positions.
Sarr and Bergvall play together in the double pivot. Brennan Johnson starts on the right side of the attack, while Werner will operate on the opposite side. Dejan Kulusevski, meanwhile, will attack down the middle.
Finally, Dominic Solanke is leading the line for Tottenham.
Spurs go into the game on the back of a three-game winless run, while Eddie Howe’s side have won each of their last five games in all competitions.
Therefore, Postecoglou, who is also without several key players, faces an uphill battle to claim all three points at home on Saturday afternoon.
In other Tottenham news, Manchester City are threatening to hijack Spurs’ swoop for this defender.
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