Newcastle may be without Papiss Cisse for Tottenham match

Newcastle United will face three tough opponents in the space of a week starting on Sunday, and it appears that Papiss Cissé may be unavailable for the Toon's trip to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham Hotspur. Cissé has been rated doubtful by Alan Pardew, according to The Chronicle, after missing training on Wednesday.

To call Papiss Newcastle's only hope of scoring these days would be a stretch, but only a tiny one. Cissé seems to have regained his form after a dreadful 2013-14 campaign that started with him sitting out in protest over new shirt sponsor Wonga, whom he objected to for religious reasons, and ended with a patella fracture. He missed a sitter against Leicester City last week, which is worrisome, but he's still scored 4 goals in just as many appearances and has changed every game he's entered.

There's no obvious replacement for Cissé, but Emmanuel Rivière was the man called on to start the season, and he may be unavailable as well. Could this be an opportunity for Facundo Ferreyra, the on-loan striker who has yet to make an appearance in league play? Personally, I'd advocate for Adam Armstrong, but the important thing is that Alan Pardew not revert to a single striker system.

Fat chance of that.