Antonio Conte has made one change to his Tottenham team for this afternoon's Premier League clash against Newcastle United. Returning to league action following a two-week break due to international football, Spurs will be looking to carry on from where they left off after the 3-1 victory over West Ham.
Three points will see Tottenham draw level on points with rivals Arsenal in fourth, with the team having the opportunity to leapfrog Mikel Arteta's side providing that they can overtake the Gunners on goal difference. However, it will be by no means straightforward as Newcastle will be looking to get back on track after slender defeats against Chelsea and Everton.
Sticking with the same XI in recent weeks with Oliver Skipp and Ryan Sessegnon out injured, Conte has Sergio Reguilon missing from the XI today. football.london understands that the Spaniard pulled up in training on Thursday with a problem and had to leave the session.
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With Reguilon not involved, Emerson Royal starts and young midfielder Jamie Bowden comes in on the bench. Newcastle may be in 15th going into the game but Conte knows his side have to "pay great attention" to the visitors.
"I think for sure Newcastle is another team now. I know well the Newcastle manager. We played against him when he was the manager with Bournemouth. He's a young manager but you can see his idea about football. I think that he's a really important prospect as a manager," he explained in his pre-match press conference.
"Newcastle signed good players during the transfer window and now for sure they're another team. We have to pay great attention on Sunday. They lost the two games but before they got points with all teams, low, medium or top teams. So for this reason we have to pay great attention.
"It won't be an easy game but we know this and we have tried to prepare very well for the game. We know that from now on, there are nine games and for us it's very important to get three points because we want to finish as high as possible in this league."
Here is the Tottenham team Conte has named to face Newcastle:
Tottenham XI: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Doherty; Kulusevski, Kane, Son
Subs: Gollini, Rodon, Sanchez, Winks, Bowden, White, Bergwijn, Lucas, Scarlett
