Newcastle United's fine Premier League run came to a startling and unanticipated halt at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon with Eddie Howe bemoaning an unusually sloppy performance.
The Magpies remain in the driving seat for a top four finish but the need to beat fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur this Sunday has grown following the Aston Villa result. Thankfully Spurs also tasted defeat over the weekend, conceding a last-gap goal to lose 3-2 against Bournemouth.
While Newcastle may have suffered a small bump in the road, things are far more concerning in north London ahead of this weekend's crucial Premier League showdown. So, what is going wrong at Tottenham and how can Newcastle take advantage?
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Stellini can't get a tune
Heads were being scratched when Antonio Conte's right-hand man Cristian Stellini was chosen as the Italian's interim successor following his Tottenham exit in March. Conte left Tottenham in acrimonious circumstances after publicly throwing his players under the bus in an extraordinary post-match meltdown.
Stellini has since tried to steady the ship both on the pitch and in the dressing room, and is so far showing a lot more restraint when it comes to blaming his players for Spurs' patchy form. However, there has been no 'new manager bounce' and even Tottenham supporters in the media don't seem keen to afford Stellini the benefit of the doubt.
"Stellini – I don’t know what this guy’s doing, I don’t know what he keeps seeing and what he’s coming out and saying," former Tottenham star Jamie O'Hara moaned recently.
“He hasn’t got a clue. All he is is Antonio Conte’s right-hand man. He’s doing exactly what Antonio Conte did, the same players, same tactics, the same old rubbish. I don’t know what we were thinking by thinking this was going to be a good idea until the end of the season and it just sums it up. Daniel Levy, again, lets the fans down."
Boardroom collapse
The man tasked with finding Conte's replacement is also no more. Fabio Paratici has stepped down from his role as Tottenham's managing director after his Italian football ban was extended to become a worldwide suspension.
Paratici's former club Juventus were docked 15 points earlier this season after the 'Prisma Investigation' found the Serie A giants guilty of false accounting in relation to transfer dealings, with a number of club chiefs subsequently receiving football suspensions. Juventus have continuously denied all allegations.
Paratici was one of those sanctioned but was able to continue his work with Tottenham due to his ban only relating to Italian football. However, FIFA have now decided to impose a worldwide suspension on those involved.
Spurs fans turn on players
The chaos isn't solely in the boardroom and dugout as Tottenham's players struggle to get their season back on track. The north London side have recently crashed out of the Champions League, dropped points against Southampton and Everton, and suffered a humiliating 3-2 reverse to Bournemouth.
Spurs fans have clearly seen enough during a testing campaign and made their feelings known from the stands on Saturday. Davinson Sanchez, brought on as a first-half substitute, wasn't given the warmest of welcomes as he entered the field and was then roundly booed off as he was himself taken off 23 minutes later.
Sanchez looked shaky from the start, undercooking a pass to Pedro Porro three minutes after coming on, allowing Bournemouth to equalise. A disastrous showing saw him swiftly taken out of the firing line by Stellini in the second half.
"I feel really bad for Davinson. He's a team-mate, he's a friend and he's been fighting for the club for many, many years now," captain Hugo Lloris said. "It's just sad. The story is sad for the club, for the fans, for the player. It's something you don't want to see in football."
Social media accounts deleted
Davinson wasn't the only player to feel the wrath of Tottenham's fan base as January addition Pedro Porro received a taste of similar criticism after full-time. The full-back was forced to temporarily delete his social media accounts in the wake of the Bournemouth defeat after a raft of abuse.
Porro returned soon after with a message for the fans. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have left,” he wrote on Twitter. “Thanks for the messages of love.”
Starting slowly
Similarly to Newcastle of late, Tottenham have been starting games slowly in recent weeks. Despite taking the lead against relegation-threatened Bournemouth, Spurs sat back and allowed the Cherries to hit back in the second half.
Quizzed about his team's reluctance to kill games off, Stellini explained: "It's a habit we have, it's not the first time, it's a long time that we do this. But we have to be perfect in the defensive situation.
"Today we were not so perfect because we allowed them to score with two mistakes. This is a problem, it's not a tactical problem, it's an individual problem, a mistake."
This should be music to the ears of Newcastle players who have a fantastic record at St James' Park this season. The Magpies were fast out of the traps against Manchester United at home earlier this month and will be hoping for a similar start when Tottenham arrive on Tyneside this weekend.
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