Aston Villa vs. Newcastle United
Venue: Villa Park
Kick off: 12:30PM
Two of the Premier League’s form sides meet in today’s early kickoff, as Aston Villa aim to extend their four-match success streak at the expense of Champions League-chasing Newcastle United.
The Magpies arrive at Villa Park on the back of five straight wins, which sees them occupy third place in the table.
Villa’s evolution under Unai Emery continued with victory over Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Only days after leaving the bench to score Aston Villa’s last-gasp winner at Leicester City, Bertrand Traore once again proved the Birmingham side’s “supersub” last time out, as he broke the deadlock in a 2-0 win against struggling Nottingham Forest.
Having replaced the injured Leon Bailey midway through the first half, Traore struck just after the break and red-hot Ollie Watkins then sealed the deal with a second goal in stoppage time, elevating Villa into the Premier League’s top six.
Since Unai Emery’s first game in charge last November, only his former club Arsenal have picked up more points and earned more wins in the top flight, as Villa have racked up 11 league wins and 35 points to surge up the standings and into European contention.
Having won each of their last four matches, they will aim to post five-in-a-row in the top flight for the first time this century – John Gregory was still in charge at Villa Park when they last achieved such a feat.
Emery could quite easily have been sat in the opposition dugout this weekend, as he rejected an approach from Newcastle’s new owners in 2021 when still at Villarreal, but having ultimately moved to the Midlands he has helped Villa close the gap to their North-East counterparts down to three places and nine points.
Ahead of the Villans’ final eight fixtures – seven of which will come against teams also in the top half of the table – they have scored at least once in all 17 of his previous Premier League games.
Only two managers have ever seen their side score in each of their first 18 matches in the competition – Mike Walker with Norwich in 1992 and Chelsea’s Carlo Ancelotti in 2009 – and Emery could join their esteemed company this afternoon.
Following a 4-0 victory in October’s reverse fixture, Newcastle are looking for their first Premier League double over Aston Villa since the 2013-14 campaign. In fact, the Magpies have now won the teams’ last two top-flight meetings, having gone seven without a win previously.
Like his opposite number this week, Eddie Howe has led his team to a tally of 35 points from the last 17 matches, and they are closing in on Champions League qualification – which seemed just a distant dream this time last year.
Record signing Alexander Isak fired in the winner against Brentford last time out, and his competition with former first-choice striker Callum Wilson seems to be bringing the best out of both men at the moment.
Newcastle have now won each of their last five games, three of which have been away from home, and at Villa Park they will aim to win a fourth straight away match in the Premier League for the first time in nearly 27 years.
Undoubtedly, they have now recovered from their Wembley defeat to Manchester United in the EFL Cup final and are back in control of their own destiny as far as a top-four finish is concerned – fifth-placed Tottenham are three points behind and have played a game more.
Aston Villa possible XI: Martinez, Young, Konsa, Mings, Moreno, McGinn, Luiz, Traore, Buendia, Ramsey, Watkins.
Newcastle United possible XI: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Almiron, Wilson, Murphy.
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