An 8pm Friday night kick-off has the ability to make or break your weekend. Throw into the mix our ‘tribal’ rivalry with Newcastle (dig out those bedsheets) and add Villa’s former flop-boss Steve Bruce, you’ve got yourself a football match.
Ahead of kick-off, you can find below the confirmed Villa starting eleven selected by Dean Smith, as well as the key facts and stats.
VILLA TEAM NEWS
Martinez (GK)
Elmo, Mings, Konsa, Targett
McGinn, Ramsay, Luiz, Traore, Trezeguet
Watkins
On The Bench:
Heaton, Cash, Engels, Taylor, Nakamba, Sanson, Barkley, El Ghazi, Davis.
KEY FACTS
- Newcastle are searching for their 1st win in a month.
- Our hosts are at real risk of relegation; they are just 1 point above the dropzone.
- Bruce has the third worst win rate in the PL, they’ve lost 14 of 27 games.
- Villa have lost just 1 of the last 7 meetings between the sides.
- But Newcastle are unbeaten against Villa at St James’ in 12.
- However, Smith has steered Villa to just 1 win in the last 5.
- Positively, Villa are just 6 points from 6th spot with game(s) in hand on many.
- Villa are better away from home this season with 23 points from 14 games.
- Villa Form: WDLWLD
- Newcastle Form: LWLLDD
- Villa League Position: 9th
- Newcastle League Position: 16th
- Jack Grealish remains out through injury.
- Matty Cash & Anwar El Ghazi are both available for selection.
- Callum Wilson, Saint-Maximin, Schar, Almiron miss out for Newcastle.
- Kick Off Time: 8pm (UK) (GMT)
- Watch Live or Stream: BT Sport (Subscription Required)
PREDICTIONS
Newcastle 0-3 Aston Villa
Our host’s league form, worsening injury list and their current boss give cause for great optimism for this evening’s trip up north. And despite Villa not purring quite as smoothly without Grealish, one can’t help compare both squads, playing styles and manager’s attributes. Whilst this could well be a war of attrition upon the eyes, our claret and blue clouded crystal ball points to an away win. A quick mooch on Oddschecker (No affiliation or ad) shows Villa at 6/5 favourites. Newcastle are 14/5 despite being at home. The draw seems the more unlikely prospect, as evidenced by many bookies offering a refund offer if the game should turn out to be a 0-0 borefest.