Tottenham will look to firm their grip on a Champions League game with a victory against a rejuvenated Newcastle side in their English Premier League game Saturday.
Spurs are currently just a point behind third-placed Chelsea, and could go above them with a victory at White Hart Lane. Newcastle will be equally desperate for a win to move further away from the relegation zone.
"Obviously where they are in the league is probably not where they want to be after the season they had last year, they had a great season," Spurs defender Michael Dawson said.
"But the signings they have brought in and the win they got against Chelsea last week mean they are going to be full of belief.
"New players have arrived who want to show what they can do. It's going to be a tough game and we've got to be ready."
Andre Villas-Boas will have a bit of a striker problem, with Jermain Defoe injured and Emmanuel Adebayor only arriving Friday from the Africa Cup of Nations. Sandro is ruled out for the season, while Younes Kaboul is on course for a comeback soon.
Villas-Boas, however, will have the option of using Lewis Holtby, who has looked good ever since signing from Schalke last month. "He's made an immediate impact in the team in both games," Villas-Boas said. "Lewis offers further options playing from the channels coming in.
"We haven't seen him in this position yet, but he finds comfort in that position because played it before for Mainz. At the moment he's playing fantastically well. Hopefully we will continue to see him progress.
"We want to build a gap over the teams that are chasing us and bridge the gap to those at the top. It can go either way. Everton have a difficult away fixture (at Manchester United) this weekend, Arsenal have one too (at Sunderland).
"If we want to be able to profit in some way from these two fixtures, we have to get the result against Newcastle. We have to do our job."
Newcastle will welcome back Cheick Tiote, who missed the last five weeks while on Africa Cup of Nations duty with the Ivory Coast, but Hatem Ben Arfa remains sidelined.
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Expected lineups: Tottenham: Lloris; Walker, Vertonghen, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Parker, Dembele, Holtby; Dempsey, Bale.
Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Taylor, Coloccini, Santon; Perch, Cabaye; Gouffran, Sissoko, Guttierez; Cisse.
Prediction: 2-2
