This is what Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur should expect from referee Craig Pawson this weekend

Steve Bruce’s side host Spurs at St James’s Park in desperate need of all three points to help kickstart their survival bid.

The Magpies will need to be at their best if they are to beat Jose Mourinho’s men – certainly some luck with the officiating wouldn’t go a miss.

Research from OLBG has analysed each top-flight referee’s performance this season and broken it down team-by-team. They’ve looked at total matches, goals scored, wins, fouls, yellow cards and red cards.

Here’s what they uncovered on Pawson when officiating Newcastle and Tottenham fixtures over the last five years.

Matches refereed – roughly the same

In total, Pawson has taken charge of 13 Newcastle games – including three this season – since 2016 and one less for Spurs.

The 42-year-old was in the middle for United’s 3-2 win over Southampton in February – where he sent off Jeff Hendrick for a second yellow.

He was also called to the VAR monitor to award Manchester United penalty – which Karl Darlow saved – during their 4-1 win at St James’s Park.

The other match refereed by Pawson this term was Chelsea’s visit to the North East. That ended in a comfortable 2-0 victory for the visitors.

Goals scored – Tottenham well in front

To no surprise, Spurs are well out in front when it comes to goals scored, with Mourinho side’s averaging 2.08 goals per game when Pawson is present, compared to United’s 0.77.

That works out as 25 goals in 12 matches and 10 in 13 for the Magpies.

Bruce and co need all the goals they can get, so perhaps Pawson fancies bagging one himself… preferably an injury-time winner.

Games won – not good news for Newcastle

Newcastle have won just three games of their 13 games Pawson has officiated, accumulating to a low win percentage of 0.23%.

That said, while Tottenham have five more than the Magpies, their 0.67% of matches won isn’t a huge difference.

Pawson has refereed two Spurs games this term – which both ended in defeats against Leicester City and West Ham United – so perhaps United can take comfort in that.

Fouls, yellows and red cards

Pawson has awarded 140 fouls in games Newcastle have been involved in – an average of 10.77. Tottenham's record is a 160, working out as 13.33 per game.

Indeed, 18 yellows have been issued during United games – 1.38 per game by Pawson. Spurs is almost double the amount with 32 – a 2.67 average.

On average, it takes 6.50 fouls before Pawson gets his cards out for the Magpies and 5 for Sunday’s visitors.

In the past five years, Pawson has shown two reds to Spurs at an average of 80 fouls per red, or 16 yellows per red card. It also works out as a red card every six matches.

For Newcastle, there have been three reds at an average of one every 4.33 games, and every 46.67 fouls for every six yellows.

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