The mentality Eddie Howe has drummed into his Newcastle United team ahead of Tottenham test

Eddie Howe is refusing to look at Newcastle United's trip to Tottenham Hotspur as a "free hit" this weekend. The Magpies may well have 31 points in the bag with nine games to go and look on course for safety but the head coach is taking nothing for granted.

And they may also have a less daunting run, as the current batch of four away games at Southampton, Chelsea, Everton and Spurs is followed by three successive home games coming up that can all but book their place at football's top table next season. But every week Howe is treating the next game in the same important manner as his first in charge at St James' Park.

Howe is as hungry now as he was when he took over Bournemouth in League Two when they were 17 points adrift of safety in 2009 and he laid the foundations for survival and much more for the Cherries. The 44-year-old is as determined now as he was when he guided the South Coast minnows to safety in his first Premier League season in 2016.

In fact, he may even be more driven to lead Newcastle to stay up given the relegation on his record from 2020 with Bournemouth probably still keeps him up at night sometimes. He certainly doesn't want to experience that again. It was one of the unluckiest stories in Premier League history and but for certain factors, it may never have happened at all, but Howe learned greatly from it.

That's why every game counts, every point counts and every performance counts for meticulous Howe going into the run-in. Earlier this month when asked about the games against the bigger sides, Howe said: "These games aren't a free hit. "I've learnt historically that you need to pick up points against every type of team so we will endeavour to do our best to do that."

Going into that run of