A makeshift back four that sends shivers down the spine - Our predicted Newcastle lineup to face Tottenham

Newcastle United take on Tottenham Hotspur at St James' Park in Saturday's 12:30pm kick-off which is also live on TNT Sport.

The game is massive for both clubs as they chase down European qualification, a task that could be made harder for Newcastle after last night's results.

Speaking of things being harder than they should be - Eddie Howe's pre-match press conference on Friday morning wasn't exactly brimming with good news on the injury front.

This Manifesting thing didn't work last week but we're trying it again

Howe said that Lewis Hall hasn't trained this week, Joe Willock remains out and Tino Livramento is the closest to a return - no mention of Kieran Trippier who we were hoping might be back after that RNID video.

Goalkeeper

Martin Dubravka - A clean sheet against Fulham last week could be a nice little confidence boost for the Slovakian.

Defence

Emil Krafth - Tino Livramento could be back based on Howe's presser, but we think it'll more likely be Krafth. It certainly doesn't look like it'll be Trippier.

Fabian Schar - Who else? The man would regrow an amputated limb to make sure he was picked.

Paul Dummett - Lewis Hall hasn't trained all week which means we'll see Big Dan Burn moved back to left-back, or he could keep his centre-back spot and Dummet could play left-back.

Dan Burn - As above, he's either going to be here or LCM. Either way, him and Dummett together - pure nightmares going up against that Spurs attack.

Midfield

Sean Longstaff - Confirmed this week he's been playing with a broken foot and yet still gets picked ahead of other players. This week Howe doesn't really have much choice, though.

Bruno Guimaraes - The hero last week at Fulham just needs to get through this game without picking up a booking and he's avoided a two-game ban.

Elliot Anderson - Joe Willock's injury is not as bad as expected but he won't be fit for this game, but that's fine because Anderson is in better form anyway.

Forwards

Anthony Gordon - We're trying to manifest this front three into existence again, but we're not convinced Howe will agree with us.

Alexander Isak - Get out there and show Jose Enrique why he's talking absolute toilet.

Harvey Barnes - We know that Jacob Murphy will start on the right and Barnes will be on the bench, but if we keep putting it out there into the universe it might come to be.

This lineup prediction has certainly affected our confidence

Eddie Howe is going to need an extra-strength attack to counteract that weak defence, so now is the time to unleash that front three we're all dying to see.

You never know with Eddie Howe what "closest to a return" actually means. It's either another month out or they're in the next room doing the bleep test. We're hoping it's the latter for Tino Livramento and he can start on the left side of defence with Burn at centre-back and Dummett on the bench where he belongs.

We were confident of a result tomorrow until we started to put together this lineup, now it really could go either way.