At the beginning of this month, Tonight’s trip to Tottenham is already feeling like a must-win game to keep us in the race for European football.
But after the last week and a half of drama, both on and off the pitch, a win against Spurs also feels massive for Eddie Howe, who has come under fire from sections of the fanbase over the past month.
The situation here at St James’ Park is getting tense. We all need a lift, sitting 12th in the league and winning just one of our last eight games after our strong start to 2026 has quickly unravelled.
Former Arsenal player and pundit Paul Merson has weighed in on what’s become a decisive game for both ourselves and Spurs, offering his verdict on the match, the two clubs and Sandro Tonali’s agent after a week of unhelpful transfer talk.
Writing in his latest prediction piece for [Sportskeeda](https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/news-paul-merson-predicts-brentford-vs-arsenal-premier-league-gw26-fixtures), Paul Merson has described tonight’s game as a “nightmare” to predict, as one side in awful form at home meets a Newcastle side struggling on the road.
After predicting a 2-2 and a game of goals in North London, the Sky Sports pundit has also questioned Sandro Tonali’s agent for a series of public interviews about the Italian’s future, questioning the timing when it’s planted seeds of doubt at Newcastle and added pressure on the player to perform.
Discussing both teams, Spurs’ suspension woes, Tonali’s agent and tonight’s game, Merson said:
> _“Both Tottenham and Newcastle desperately need a response, don’t they? They’re not bad teams. But I feel they’ve both been let down at times by their best players!_
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> _“There is no justification for what Cristian Romero did against Manchester United on Saturday. It was ridiculous from him to get sent off. This isn’t the first time Romero has let Spurs down and as long as he keeps playing, it won’t be the last either._
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> _”If the uncertainty around Sandro Tonali’s future was a concern for Newcastle, now they also have to deal with his poor run of form. I also don’t understand why his agent had to come out and talk publicly about his client’s future in the midst of all this. It just adds more pressure on Tonali._
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> _”This game is a football pundit’s nightmare. You can predict one thing and the result could really embarrass you in the end! I can definitely see goals here, but I’m going for a draw.”_
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> _**Merson’s prediction:** Tottenham 2-2 Newcastle._
It’s a stoppable force meets a moveable object: Spurs’ horrendous home record versus our atrocious away form. In their ‘respective’ form tables of home and away, it’s the 17th best team at home vs the 16th best team away.
Spurs have shown that they are more than capable of getting the results when it really matters, such as their 2-2 comeback draw against Man City as well as their excellent form in the Champions League.
Despite our defeat against Brentford on Saturday, there were still some excellent performances from Bruno Guimaraes, Lewis Hall and Sven Botman to rave about, each of whom should have a field day against Spurs.
This is three points we simply cannot afford to miss out on, and a win could see us go back into the top half of the table and within touching distance of the European football spots once again. Anything less than that, and there’ll start to be even more questions and scrutiny shown towards Howe, Tonali, and the rest of the team.