Newcastle: “Quality,” says Matthias Jaissle in a pre-match interview with Sky Sports, upon being asked what Nico Gonzalez will add to his team. “I think he’s a real complete player. I can mention for sure that he is able to dominate in possession but he also the ability to be aggressive out of possession. He can also be a player that is leading the team, even though he is young.”
Fun fact: Tottenham and Newcastle have met 61 times in the Premier League era without ever playing out a scoreless draw. Today could be the day for a dreary stalemate but it seems unlikely – fingers crossed for a glut of goals.
Premier League: Hull City have made it back-to-back wins upon their return to the top flight, with Liam Millar scoring the only goal of their game at Coventry City to deposit another three precious points in the bank. James Tarkowski left it until added time to cancel out Alex Scott’s opener as Bournemouth were held by Everton at the Vitality Stadium. In today’s early game, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest served up an entertaining 2-2 draw at Anfield, where the hosts had to come from behind twice to rescue a point.
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Tottenham Hotspur: Roberto De Zerbi is keen to add one more signing to his Tottenham squad and has said outgoing deals are also possible before Tuesday night’s transfer deadline. David Hytner reports …
Today’s match officials
Referee: Peter Bankes
Referee’s assistants: Ian Hussin and Nick Hopton
Fourth official: Tom Bramall
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Nick Greenhalgh
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Newcastle United: Matthias Jaissle is convinced new arrival Nico González will not take long to hit the ground running after his big-money arrival from Manchester City. The Spaniard could make his Newcastle debut today after a move from City that could rise to £52m this week, with the head coach excited by the 24-year-old’s ceiling.
“He trained with us and he looks sharp,” Jaissle said. “It will take time [to adapt] and I can not tell you how long it takes but he’s a smart player, he has huge potential and already brings so much quality in the squad. He will adapt fast into our way of playing and then we can enjoy.”
Jaissle is hopeful that Gonzalez will not be the last player through the door at St James’ Park in this summer’s window, with the Belgium wideman Matias Fernandez-Pardo tipped to move to Tyneside from Lille. “It’s the first message of the morning – to push,” Jaissle said. “The management and Ross [Wilson], the sporting director, they’re doing an amazing job, trying everything. “We want to be smart, we don’t want to act in panic, so I’m really optimistic things will happen.” Press Association
More on that Savio absence: “There was bad news yesterday before training in the afternoon,” his head coach Roberto De Zerbi has explained. “He suffered muscle fatigue and the medical staff didn’t want to take a risk. I agree with them.” So now we know.
Those teams: Savio is a conspicuous absentee from today’s Tottenham Hotspur squad following his excellent midweek debut, while Mateus Fernandes, Rodrigo Bentancur, Micky van de Ven all come into the side that performed so feebly against Brentford last weekend.
There’s a debut up front for Omar Marmoush, while Mikey Moore, Marco Asensio, Richarlison,Conor Gallagher, and Lucas Bergvall all drop out. Neither Richarlsion nor Kevin Danso, who is being linked with a move to Sunderland, are in the matchday squad. Pape Sarr is also left out, amid links with a move to Juventus.
Nico Gonzalez comes straight into Newcastle’s midfield following his midweek £50m move from Manchester City, while Joe Willock comes in for the injured William Osula.
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Tottenham v Newcastle line-ups
Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky, Gray, van Hecke, van de Ven, Robertson, Tonali, Bentancur, Porro, Fernandes, Tel, Marmoush.
Subs: Dubravka, Senesi, Gallagher, Udogie, Bergvall, Solanke, Kudus, Davies, Moore.
Newcastle United: Hornicek, Dedic, Botman, Thiaw, Hall, Gonzalez, Miley, Elanga, Willock, Barnes, Wissa.
Subs: Jaouen, Schar, Bamba, Steur, Toure, Murphy, Woltemade, Ramsey, Shahar.
Early team news
Sandro Tonali is expected to start in midfield for Tottenham against his formner club, while Omar Marmoush could also find himself in Tottenham’s line-up following his arrival from Manchester City. Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro could also come into the side after coming off the bench against Charlton in midweek, while Savio’s excellent cameo off the bench may earn him a start.
James Maddison is a doubt after injuring his shoulder in Tottenham’s defeat at the hands of Brentford last weekend, while Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons are all sidelined with knee injuries.
New signing Nico Gonzalez could make his club debut in midfield for Newcastle, while Bazoumana Toure is expected to be available despite coming off at half-time in Newcastle’s midweek Carabao Cup win over West Brom with a knock. Tino Livramento, Will Osula, Dan Burn and Joelinton are all ruled out.
Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United
It’s been a summer of much change at both Tottenham and Newcastle, whose respective fans have both seen plenty of high profile departures and arrivals. Despite losing their head coach and three of their most influential players, Newcastle 2.0 provided grounds for fan optimism in their season-opener, despite proving unable to close out the win against Liverpool.
Having sent the expectations of their supporters soaring sky-high with a high profile summer trolley-dash that’s been the envy of most of their rivals, Spurs promptly brought them crashing back to earth with a resounding thud in miserable defeat at Brentford. While De Zerbi’s side went some way towards redeeming themselves with a midweek Carabao Cup thrashing of a second string Charlton side, much better will be expected of them in their first home league game of the season, against visitors who have won on their past two visits to this particular corner of North London. Kick-off in this intriguing fixture is at 5.30pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
