Poyet will stay, insists Allen

Clive Allen does not believe Gus Poyet will become the new manager at Newcastle because he is happy as Tottenham’s first team coach.

Poyet has been linked with the vacant position at St James’ Park along with Blackburn boss Paul Ince, who yesterday admitted to being flattered by the connection.

Kevin Keegan resigned from Newcastle on September 4 after failing to settle differences over the club’s transfer policy with billionaire owner Mike Ashley and executive director (football) Dennis Wise.

Allen, the Tottenham reserve team coach, can understand why the ambitious Poyet appears to be in the running for the Newcastle job.

But he believes the former Spurs and Chelsea midfielder will continue in his role as Juande Ramos’ assistant at White Hart Lane.

Allen told the Friday Football Show on Setanta Sports: “(Poyet) is the natural link because of his friendship with Dennis Wise but Gus is very happy at the club and I can’t see that anything is going to change at this moment in time.”

Poyet’s focus remains on Tottenham’s forthcoming Barclays Premier League clash with Aston Villa on Monday, when new signings Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka are set to make their club debuts.

It will have been 15 days since Spurs responded to successive league defeats with a confidence-boosting 1-1 draw at Chelsea.

Poyet said: “We’ll have a few players set to play at White Hart Lane for the first time, so that will be great, and it’s a chance to pick up points and hopefully to start climbing up the league.

“Villa are a very good team, well organised, they know how they want to play and that means it’s so important we impose our game on them.

“We know how dangerous they are at set-pieces as well as we found out last season, so we need to be strong. That’s the key – it’s about the right mentality.”

Spurs defender Gareth Bale has predicted big things from Pavlyuchenko after being on the receiving end of Spurs’ new £14million striker while on international duty in midweek.

Pavlyuchenko, brought in to replace Dimitar Berbatov, scored from the penalty spot as Russia beat Wales 2-1 in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier.

Bale was impressed by Pavlyuchenko’s all-round performance.

“He was up front on his own and played well. He held the ball up well, looked lively and obviously scored the penalty against us in the first half. Tottenham fans certainly have something to look forward to,” said Bale.

“I spoke to him before and after and he’s looking forward to playing for Spurs.”

Bale, who missed a penalty against Russia, played in both Wales’ World Cup qualifiers but insisted he is “fresh and as good as ever” ahead of Aston Villa’s arrival at White Hart Lane on Monday night.

Corluka is set to slot straight into the Spurs back four after Didier Zokora provided make-shift cover for the injured Alan Hutton at right-back against Chelsea.