Tottenham Hotspur fans planning protest against PIF and Newcastle United's ownership

Bruno Guimaraes ‘robbed’ of March Goal of the Month

Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes was nominated for the Premier League’s Goal of the Month award for March.

His back-heel volley on his full debut at Southampton helped The Magpies secure a 2-1 win and gained plenty of plaudits in the process.

But the Brazilian was beaten to the Goal of the Month award by Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar netted a 30-yard strike for The Red Devils against Tottenham Hotspur last month.

While both goals were certainly worthy of the ‘goal of the month’ accolade, some Newcastle fans felt their new midfielder was ‘robbed’ of the award with the uniqueness of Guimaraes’ goal and argued it was more deserving of the award than Ronaldo’s more traditional long-ranged effort.

Spurs fans planning PIF protest

Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust have confirmed that they will be protesting the ownership of Newcastle United ahead of the Premier League meeting between the sides at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (4:30pm kick-off).

A THST statement read: “In advance of Spurs v Newcastle on Sunday 3 April, members of Proud Lilywhites and THST will be on Tottenham High Road to highlight the Saudi state’s ownership of Newcastle United.

“Football Clubs are important cultural and heritage assets and their use as shields for regimes that murder their citizens, jail their LGBTQ+ community and cause atrocities (as in Yemen) is something we want to keep a focus on, so this is never allowed to happen again.

“We’ll be on the High Road from 14.30 for an hour, with a banner and 81 balloons to denote the recent mass execution of 81 men.

"We also want to shine a light on the plight of Suhail Al-Jameel who is an icon for LGBTQ+ people in Saudi Arabia. Suhail is currently reported to be in a political prison (which is worse than a normal one) and is alleged to have received 800 lashes, after posting a shirtless photograph on Twitter.

"His ‘crimes’; are purported to include “homosexuality”,” imitating a woman”, “disobedience” and “public indecency”. We hope that UK pressure could lead to his release.”

The Premier League were given legally binding assurances that the Saudi Arabian state would have no involvement in the running of Newcastle prior to approving the £300million takeover of the club by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media back in October.

Conte provides Tottenham injury update ahead of NUFC clash

Antoino Conte has confirmed that Oliver Skipp and Ryan Sessegnon won’t be available to face Newcastle but are 'very close’ to a return.

Left-back Ben Davis is in contention to feature despite missing Wales’ friendly against Czech Republic during the international break.

Skipp has been out of action since January with a groin problem while Sessegnon is nursing a hamstring injury picked up in the 5-0 win over Everton last month.

Conte said during his pre-match press conference: “The good news is that Skippy and Sessegnon are very close to being back with the team, to having training sessions with us. They are not yet ready for the game against Newcastle, but they are improving.”

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