Top 4 rivals Newcastle and Tottenham face each other at the start of the new Premier League campaign in what should be a great game of football at St James Park.

Having enjoyed one of their best league campaigns ever last term, the Magpies will certainly have something to build on this season, but repeating the 5th-place finish or making it to the top 4 could prove to be a very difficult task.

Not because Alan Pardew’s side are any weaker than last term, since that is definitely not the case, but because the competition will be fierce this season.

The Magpies have once again been brilliant in the transfer market, cashing in on fringe players Leon Best and Fraser Foster, while signing talented youngsters Vurnon Anita, Romain Amalfitano, Gael Bigirimana and Curtis Good.

However, these players have yet to prove they have what it takes to play at this level, meaning that Alan Pardew is likely to rely on starters from last season for the opening fixture against Tottenham.

William Hill has the hosts at 2.70 (17/10) to beat Spurs at St James Park, whereas Newcastle are no less than 17.00 (16/1) with Bodog to finish in top 4 this term.

Alan Pardew faces a real selection headache with Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa all injury doubts, but Steven Taylor and Sylvain Marveaux are back after spending most of the last season on the sidelines.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Krul – Simpson, Coloccini, S. Taylor, Santon – Gutierrez, Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa – Cisse, Ba.

Tottenham somehow managed to beat Newcastle and Chelsea to the fourth place in the standings, but that proved to be in vain as Chelsea’s Champions League triumph denied them the opportunity to play in Europe’s top competition this season.

The club management opted for Andre Villas-Boas as the man to replace Harry Redknapp and he has received a nice welcome at White Hart Lane.

The Portuguese was given two very good signings in Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson, but he looks likely to stay without Luka Modric, who is closing in on a switch to Real Madrid.

The Croatian is out of contention for the Newcastle game, just like Scott Parker and Heurelho Gomes, but the good news is that Tom Huddlestone is finally fit following a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Online bookmakers don’t seem too confident that Tottenham can achieve a top 4 finish for the second successive season, with Spurs 3.00 (2/1) at Stan James to finish in top 4.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Friedel – Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto – Huddlestone, Sandro – Van der Vaart, Sigurdsson, Bale – Defoe.