Newcastle United welcome relegation battling Aston Villa to St James’ Park, as the Villains look to boost their survival hopes.
A win for Newcastle could temporarily lift them as high as tenth, whilst Villa could move out of the relegation zone with victory plus defeat for Bournemouth at Wolves.
Team News
Embed from Getty ImagesMatty Longstaff could be available for Newcastle if he passes a late fitness test following a recent quadriceps strain.
Florian Lejeune (fitness), Ciaran Clark (ankle) and Sean Longstaff (knock) all remain sidelined.
Villa could have Danny Drinkwater and Frederic Guilbert available after respective fitness and knee issues, if both pass late fitness tests.
Tom Heaton, Wesley (both knee) and Bjorn Engels (Achilles) are ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle have lost just one of their last 13 league games against Aston Villa (W6, D6, L1).
- The home team in last two meetings have won by 2-0 results on both occasions.
- Villa have won just one of their last 17 trips to Newcastle in all competitions (W1, D7, L9).
- No Premier League goalkeeper has made more saves this season than Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka, who has made 118 saves in 30 appearances.
- Anwar El Ghazi and Jack Grealish are the only two Villa players to have hit the woodwork on more than one occasion this season, with both players hitting the woodwork twice.
Prediction
Newcastle will come into this game high on confidence after Sunday’s performance in which they stubbornly sussed out Sheffield United’s gameplay, before establishing their foothold and controlling the game in and out of possession throughout the second-half.
Villa therefore needs to realistically score first because if they allow the Magpies to get on top early on and control this game, I can’t see them managing to do anything other than avoid a respectable loss given that Newcastle seems hungrier for success than before.
Prediction: Newcastle United 2-0 Aston Villa
Result: Newcastle United 1-1 Aston Villa