Aston Villa welcome Newcastle United to Villa Park in a crunch Premier League clash in the top-four race.
Victory would see Villa stay sixth and move to within six points of Newcastle, whilst Eddie Howe’s Magpies can stay third with a win.
Team News
Leon Bailey is a major doubt for Aston Villa after he was substituted in their win over Nottingham Forest with a hamstring injury.
Matty Cash, Philip Coutinho (both muscle), Boubacar Kamara (foot) and Jed Steer (Achilles) remain absent.
Newcastle will be without Allan Saint-Maximin after he missed their win at Brentford with a hamstring injury, which will keep the winger out until end of April at earliest.
Miguel Almiron (thigh) is unlikely to be risked unless he proves his fitness ahead of the match but Ryan Fraser (personal) and Emil Krafth (knee) definitely remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Aston Villa host Newcastle at Villa Park on Saturday 15 April at 12:30pm BST, live on BT Sport in UK.
Stat Attack
- Aston Villa have lost two of their last seven league meetings against Newcastle (W3, D2, L2).
- Newcastle are winless in their last six visits to Villa Park (D3, L3).
- Both teams have found the net within the same match in just one of their last five meetings, in which they both scored in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle in March 2021.
- Villa’s Alex Moreno has been booked in two of his last three home appearances.
- Newcastle’s Alexander Isak has scored five goals in four of his last five appearances, except for a 2-0 home win over Manchester United.
Prediction
Although a top-four finish looks unlikely, Villa certainly can afford to dream of Europa League football following a seven-match unbeaten run in which they’ve been clinical – especially at home where they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets.
Unai Emery’s Villains though often lacked the final touch to their end product against Forest which can’t be repeated here, because Newcastle are much tougher opposition and will certainly punish any sloppy play if Villa aren’t at their best.
Eddie Howe’s Magpies though were lucky to beat Brentford because their first-half performance was lacklustre, yet were able to respond with increased intensity and improved end product finishing which does their confidence plenty of good coming into this bogey trip.
This match however marks the start of a tricky few weeks for both teams in their battle for European qualification, of which Villa has the harder run-in so it’s imperative that they get the win here for momentum sake.
Newcastle however should have enough quality in them to at least snatch a draw which I can see being fairly high-scoring.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-2 Newcastle United
Result: Aston Villa 3-0 Newcastle United
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