Tottenham host Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United on Sunday and will expect to claim three points in N17

Tottenham Hotspur have a great chance to show progress this weekend when Newcastle United travel to the capital.

Steve Bruce's Magpies are still to register a point after two games of this season's Premier League and suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss at Norwich City on Saturday.

It means Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs should be licking their lips at the prospect of entertaining the North East club this Sunday in a 4.30pm kick-off.

However, what Tottenham must do now is something they failed to do enough last season and that is to back up an encouraging result against a top club.

Manchester City dominated the majority of Saturday's encounter at the Etihad, but the Lilywhites pulled it back to draw 2-2.

Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura grabbed goals and while VAR was needed to save Spurs' skin at the death, the decision was correct and Tottenham showed some progress when compared to last season.

Both league fixtures with City in the 2018/19 campaign ended with 1-0 defeats, but this was a much better outcome.

Spurs also visited Manchester last August and achieved a fine result - winning 3-0 away to United, then managed by Jose Mourinho.

Again there was an element of fortune with the Red Devils not taking their chances, but what followed was the start of a bad trend for the club.

The next matchday saw a 2-1 loss at Watford and throughout the season Pochettino saw his side struggle to back up big results the following match.

Tottenham produced top consecutive wins over Chelsea and Inter Milan in November, but after the victory in the Champions League suffered a frustrating defeat at Arsenal.

It happened again in January, seeing off the Blues in the League Cup and then losing at Wembley Stadium to Man United days later.

When Pochettino's men beat Borussia Dortmund in February, their next match resulted in a 2-1 defeat at Burnley and this saw a demanding and testing end to the season.

Spurs were fatigued in March, April and May and unpredictable results occurred, but fresh from a rare summer off the players must not continue this pattern.

Newcastle should be put to the sword and if they are, it will be a positive step in the right direction for Tottenham.

Consistency is key in the race for the title and top four. Now is a great opportunity for the squad to get that back and keep it going for as long as possible.