Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United will extend an all-time Premier League record if there is just one goal in Saturday's lunchtime kickoff in North London.
Both the Magpies and the Lilywhites will contend their first games of 2025 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, having made differing ends to the last calendar year.
While Eddie Howe's team made it five wins on the bounce in all competitions with a 2-0 success at Manchester United on Monday, Ange Postecoglou's side were held to a 2-2 draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
On the back of a third successive Premier League game without a win, Spurs enter the weekend six places and eight points worse off than Newcastle in the top-flight table as the Magpies close in on the Champions League places.
Meetings between Tottenham and Newcastle seldom disappoint, and there has incredibly never been a goalless draw between the two clubs in the Premier League, with all 59 games seeing at least one goal.
Tottenham, Newcastle without goalless draw since 1971
© Imago
As a result, Tottenham vs. Newcastle is the most-played Premier League fixture to never end 0-0, and not since 1971 Division One affair have the two sides shaken hands on a goalless stalemate.
Since that most recent 0-0 54 years ago, there has been at least one goal in each of the last 89 meetings between Spurs and Newcastle in all tournaments, contributing to this fixture being the third-highest scoring in Premier League history.
The two clubs have shared 189 top-flight goals between them since the competition's rebranding in 1992, and each of the last eight clashes has seen at least three goals fly into the back of the net.
Newcastle have rejoiced in victory more often than not, winning four of their last five Premier League games against the Lilywhites, including a 2-1 success at St James' Park earlier this season.
However, Tottenham's only triumph in that sequence came was a 4-1 home hammering in the 2023-24 campaign, and the neutrals should certainly get their money's worth in terms of entertainment value.
Why goals are a guarantee in Tottenham vs. Newcastle
© Imago
Tottenham come into Saturday's early kickoff with a ravaged defence yet again, as Destiny Udogie has joined Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies on the sidelines with a serious hamstring injury.
The Lilywhites were struggling for home clean sheets even before their fitness crisis, though, and they are without a shut-out in nine Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, albeit while also scoring in eight of them.
Meanwhile, Newcastle have been relentless in the final third over the festive period, scoring multiple goals in each of their last seven matches thanks in no small part to the marvellous exploits of Alexander Isak.
The Sweden international scored 25 top-flight goals for Newcastle in 2024, the second-most Premier League strikes for the Magpies in a single calendar year after Alan Shearer's 27 in 2002.
Furthermore, Newcastle have found the back of the net in each of their last 11 matches against Tottenham, last drawing a blank in a 1-0 away loss in February 2019.
Ben Knapton
