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Newcastle United injury news ahead of the Premier League trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
Labelled a “massive game” by head coach Eddie Howe, Newcastle head to North London looking to end a run of four games without a Premier League win, including three straight defeats.
There were boos at the full-time whistle as the Magpies lost 3-2 to Brentford at St James’ Park on Saturday. With 13 games of the campaign remaining, Howe’s side sit 12th in the Premier League, 10 points below the top five and the same number of points above the relegation zone.
Eddie Howe looks ahead to Newcastle United’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur
Howe was visibly dejected after the game but when back in front of the media on Monday morning, the 48-year-old preferred to look forward with optimism.
And that starts against a Spurs side who are also struggling this term, with Thomas Frank’s men 15th in the table, four points behind Newcastle and without a home win since the beginning of December.
“Always tough when you feel the team isn't playing at the level it should, that's always a tough emotion for me because you have to take responsibility for that and that's what I try to do after the game,” said Howe.
“Then it's about trying to find solutions, speaking to the players, trying to get their individual games back to the level that we know they're capable of being at and then the collective mentality and feeling within the group takes even more importance, so a combination of those things is what I've been focusing on.
“I think always the raw emotions of a defeat linger, until such time where you then focus on the next one and that's very much where I am now.
“Firstly I think we have to defend better. I think when you look back at the last run of games, we haven't defended our goal well enough, that's cost us in those games, so I think it's a simple thing to say and sometimes a difficult thing to execute, but we need to find solutions to our defensive vulnerabilities.
“And of course we need to be more clinical the other way, I think the two things go hand in hand, we've not defended well enough and we haven't been clinical enough the other end, so it's a bad mix and that's the big issues for us.”
Newcastle United could get double injury boost v Tottenham Hotspur
Newcastle remain without Tino Livramento, Fabian Schar, Emil Krafth and Joelinton due to injury but could welcome back Miley and Gordon for the visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Miley hasn’t featured in the last three matches after taking a “nasty” blow to the leg during the 1-1 draw away to Paris Saint-Germain just under a fortnight ago, while Gordon sat out of the Brentford game after three days earlier coming off against Manchester City with a hamstring issue.
Howe said: “Miley, I need to see today, we'll get another update on his progress. He's got a nasty bang to his leg, so it's like a dead leg that's dragged on a little bit longer than we thought, so we'll see how he is.
“Gordon, we'll make a check on today and see how he's progressing, hopefully a big improvement in him, Joelinton won't make this game.”
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