Tottenham v Newcastle: Premier League – live!

Half-time reading from the great Jonathan Wilson:

“Dom, Fatalistic of Tunbridge Wells” writes in:

“Gah, Elvis style I have this game on and the cricket summary on two screens and I knew Spurs will drain any Ashes euphoria from me. This game had ‘muff-up’ written on it from the release of the fixtures. We will have 219% possession, but all our passes will be 10 yards sideways. We will have 50 shots. None will be on target and 3 will end up outside of the WHL postcode. Toon will run up the pitch and kick it in the net (again). It’s just a given.

“Post-match Bruce will hail a ‘turning point’ and they will promptly lose their next game five-nil to three sleep deprived apes and a hat. Still, well done Ben Stokes.”

Pretty much spot-on so far, bar the shot count.

Moura skews wide under pressure from Atsu after Dubravka misses a Kane cross, in perhaps Spurs’ best chance of the half, and then Dean blows his whistle. Not for the first time this season, Spurs have it all to do. And they haven’t done a lot yet, hogging virtually all the possession but – until just then – creating just the one half-opportunity for Son. We have hardly seen a peep out of Kane. Newcastle have been supremely disciplined and have looked dangerous when attacking – a point proved devastatingly when Joelinton rifled in the only goal so far.

45+ 1 min: Almiron earns another Newcastle corner in the first of three added minutes. Could they compound Spurs’ first-half woe? Hayden wins the header but it loops well off target.

44 min: In fact, look at those possession stats on the left. Spurs have had 82% of it and that’s rising! Yet few would disagree Newcastle are well worth their lead. The figures often tell little of the story.

43 min: Spurs are enjoying a lot of possession in front of the Newcastle defence, but getting nowhere with it.

40 min: They need to keep their concentration though, as Son finds space a little too easily and drags a shot wide from 20 yards.

39 min: Newcastle look a million miles from the side that got tanked at Norwich. Atsu makes for the area again after a Walker-Peters error but can’t get past Alderweireld as he seeks space to shoot.

37 min: Newcastle fancy another one but Sanchez, whose positioning was questionable for the goal, meets Ritchie’s corner.

36 min: “Spurs go behind again with Eriksen & Vertonghen on the bench. Lousy defending & poor creativity. What exactly is Pochettino trying to prove?” writes Mike Nagle. They could certainly do with those two as things stand.

34 min: Now Lamela clips a fine cross in from the left and Dummett makes a vital intervention by getting his head to the ball just ahead of Moura. Spurs might have woken up.

33 min: That’s a shot though! Walker-Peters dinks to the far post and Son volleys hard, into the ground and up, forcing a parry from Dubravka. The volume goes up a notch.

32 min: Tottenham have not had a goal attempt yet, which tells you everything about how this has gone for them. They scream for a spot kick again after Rose runs past Ritchie and falls, but they won’t get that either.

30 min: Steve Bruce – local hero! Fair play to Newcastle here, they’ve not been seriously threatened yet and have created the game’s two big chances when they’ve marauded forward. They buried the second and Spurs have a problem.

Now then! Newcastle manage a sustained spell of confident possession, with Spurs doing little or nothing to press the ball. They are made to pay when Atsu, about 40 yards out and to the left, chips a marvellous pass over the defence that Joelinton brings down expertly and lashes low past Lloris for his first Newcastle goal!

25 min: Spurs win a corner at the other end and now the game has mustered a bit of tempo. That quickly dies down when Dubravka easily claims Lamela’s kick.

23 min: Close from Longstaff! Joelinton holds the ball up well and suddenly Newcastle are flooding towards the box. Longstaff has two men screaming for it to his left but, in fairness, catches his angled effort superbly and Lloris is forced into a fine, acrobatic save. The corner comes to nothing but Newcastle packed a punch there!

23 min: I can already see, let’s say, Isaac Hayden commenting after this finishes 0-0 that “The lads did a lot of work on shape this week”.

21 min: Spurs want a penalty now, though, as Son bursts into the area and goes down under Schar’s challenge. Dean rules that the defender got there first and there’s no VAR intervention. So that is that.

20 min: Rose swings a nice cross beyond everyone, and it’s really as good as things have been so far.

18 min: Burnley are ahead at Wolves thanks to the absolutely-on-fire Ashley Barnes.

17 min: Looks as if he actually pulled up during what, on first viewing, looked a really sloppy bit of play in letting the ball run out. Think he’s tweaked his hamstring and on comes Atsu. Not the full debut he’d wanted.

15 min: It might have been the only glimpse we get of Saint-Maximin – he’s in pain and it looks as if Atsu may come on …

13 min: An early glimpse of Saint-Maximin, who is found in a promising position on the left side of the box by Ritchie’s quick free-kick … and runs the ball over the byline.

11 min: Winks is booked for a shirt pull on Almiron in midfield, which looked entirely unnecessary. Don’t throw Mike Dean any bones!

10 min: It’s a slow start really, this. Spurs aren’t quite moving the ball as quickly as they’d like and Newcastle so far look much more disciplined than last week. You’d expect that from a Bruce team really.

7 min: Spurs win their first corner, in front of that single-tier wall of fans.

Eriksen
Lamela swings it in; it’s thudded behind for another, which is cleared by Joelinton.

5 min: Nothing of note has happened yet but it’s fair to say that, despite their colour scheme, Newcastle won’t be 1970s Holland here.

2 min: It’s all Spurs in the early moments, amid blazing sunshine. I suspect Newcastle will be looking for counters here.

Spurs kick off. Newcastle, in orange, have turned them around so the hosts will go left to right first.

I should have mentioned, by the way, that Spurs’ big summer signing Tanguy Ndombele is out with a thigh injury. So we won’t be enjoying him shortly.

It’s been an afternoon of high sporting theatre and it’s about to get better – your referee is Mike Dean and he’s leading the teams out now.

“Eriksen is generally considered amongst us Spurs fans as already gone or going. Poch is planning for life without him. Levy has already spent his transfer fee,” writes Steve Porter.

I’ve heard that said by other Spurs supporters too … but surely they wouldn’t have spent that money without being sure of a sale?

England have won the cricket! And it was *sensational*. But I’ll leave that to Rob because we have some football to be getting on with and it’s starting in about 15 …

The cricket is absolutely mesmerising sport. But anyway! I’m also interested to hear Spurs fans and their takes on Eriksen. How vital is it that he stays? And is Pochettino right to take such a hard line with the player? He’ll absolutely *seethe* if a late deal is done for Eriksen, surely.

Saint-Maximin, the Newcastle winger, played under Patrick Vieira at Nice last season. From the little I’ve seen, he can be pretty exciting but the end product isn’t always there. Any Ligue 1 aficionados who have more to add, I’d love to hear from you.

Man City have won 3-1 but you are quite possibly watching the cricket.

Oh and the cricket’s going to the wire! Rob Smyth has England attempting the impossible and, my gosh, they’re close …

Manchester City are 3-1 up at Bournemouth, who did at least score a wonderful free-kick through Harry Wilson. Catch the end with Ben Fisher and then I’ll be back with you. Get your emails and tweets across, in the meantime – you know the drill!

Spurs: Lloris; Walker-Peters, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Rose; Sissoko, Winks; Lamela, Son, Moura; Kane. Subs: Gazzaniga, Davies, Vertonghen, Dier, Skipp, Eriksen, Lo Celso.

Newcastle: Dubravka; Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Dummett; Ritchie, Hayden, Longstaff; Saint-Maximin; Almiron; Joelinton. Subs: Darlow, Manquillo, Fernandez, Willems, Shelvey, Atsu, Muto.

Eriksen returns to the naughty step! But Son returns from his three-match ban.

Saint-Maximin makes his first Newcastle start and Longstaff is back in, too.

It’s a stunning day up in north London. I should know, as I’m writing this a hop, skip, jump from White Hart Lane. Spurs’ new stadium will be gleaming for this one and let’s hope we get entertainment to match.

There was enough fun in the pre-match exchanges up at Newcastle, with Steve Bruce and, errrrr, Michael Chopra exchanging words. They’ve had a stormy start and the defeat at Norwich was shambolic. Then again, Arsenal and Spurs either side of that is no easy task and is reminiscent of the fiendish first few weeks they had last time out. There is still time for Brucey to put it right.

And Newcastle have done well recently at Spurs’ previous venues, winning three times in a row at the old White Hart Lane and running them close both times at Wembley. So historically it’s a tighter fixture than, on paper, this might look.

There’s a certain amount of pressure on Spurs, too. They had a scare against Aston Villa and got lucky when they drew up at Manchester City. The Christian Eriksen situation really isn’t helping and that’s about to enter its crunch week. It’s hard not to think this might be a season when they plateau a bit – but perhaps they’re about to prove that notion absolutely daft!

Lots to look out for in any case. Can Newcastle get off the mark? Will Spurs put themselves among the early contenders? Stay tuned for all this and, no doubt, much more!