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Spurs set for St James' starring role:Posted By: Joshua Boyles NEWCASTLE, England (AFP) - Newcastle United have been cast in the unaccustomed role of support act for Saturday's Premiership match here at St James' Park which is all about Tottenham Hostspur and their pursuit of a place in next season's Champions League.For Newcastle, the current campaign is effectively over and the Tyneside team's supporters are close to despair about events in the past eight months. Their mood has hardly been helped by the sight of clubs such as Spurs, Blackburn and Bolton battling to finish fourth in the Premiership. This was territory regularly occupied by Newcastle in recent seasons; now they are second-best to sides who have spent less on new signings and draw smaller crowds than those attracted to every league game at St James.' Now the fear amongst the north-east club's fans is that Tottenham's visit will expose the gap which has grown between the two teams. Tottenham travel up from north London at the end of a splendid week for the club, marred only by agent-inspired speculation that Egypt striker Mido may be ready to quit White Hart Lane at the end of the season. Martin Jol's team will arrive on the back of Monday's 2-1 win at home to West Brom, a result that left them in fourth place and, perhaps significantly, five points clear of north London rivals Arsenal who have a game in hand. Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon also agreed new long-term contracts but the immediate future is the main concern, however, for Jol, who said: "We are heading into a crucial month. "This race for Europe looks set to go to the last minute of the last match and we will need to show many qualities to see this through to a successful conclusion. "This is a time for cool heads and brave hearts, good tactics and true quality. The pressure this season is intense with Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan and Arsenal all with their sights set on the fourth place we have held on to for so long," the Dutchman added. Jermain Defoe, one of five Spurs players who figured in England's win over Uruguay earlier this month, agreed: "Every game is like a cup final now as we try to reach the Champions League. "We're certainly confident. We've worked hard to get where we are this stage of the season and we are not about to throw that all away," the striker said. Tottenham have no major injury worries, in contrast to Newcastle, where Glenn Roeder has received little but bad news since making a fine start to his reign as caretaker-manager. United have scored just twice while losing their last four matches and are now without Scott Parker, who has contracted glandular fever. It said much about Parker - and some of his team-mates - that he remained one of their outstanding performers despite playing when he did not know he was ill in the past month. "His absence is a body blow, but I've been consicious in the past few weeks that he has been looking tired in parts of games," Roeder said. Parker is exempt from any criticism, but Michael Owen, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Albert Luque, Titus Bramble and Stephen Carr are others who have not delivered what was expected from them at the start of the season, either through form or fitness. Carr, sidelined for much of the season, is expected to play against his former club, while Bramble may return following a hamstring injury. Their presence would add some experience to Roeder's defence but there remains a fragile look to the back four. Tottenham have every right to expect to exploit it and add to the air of pessimism surrounding Tyneside. Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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