At A Glance
St James’ Park beckons for Aston Villa on Sunday as Steven Gerrard’s side face Newcastle United in the Premier League.
The Magpies escaped the relegation zone with a 3-1 victory on home turf against Everton in midweek, but they could find themselves back in the bottom three if results elsewhere go against them ahead of kick-off on Tyneside.
Eddie Howe’s team have put together back-to-back top-flight wins for the first time this season, including a 1-0 success away at Leeds before the winter break.
Leeds and Villa played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Villa Park on Wednesday night, with the hosts letting a 3-1 lead slip.
Villa’s attacking play was a major positive on the night as Philippe Coutinho scored one and assisted two for Jacob Ramsey, who has netted four times in his last six Premier League games.
Eight points separate the two sides ahead of the match as Villa go in search of a fifth top-flight victory this term.
Standout Stats
Newcastle are unbeaten in their last 12 Premier League home games against Aston Villa (W6 D6) since a 3-0 loss in April 2005. Each of the last three in the competition between the sides at St James’ Park has finished 1-1.
Aston Villa are looking to do the double over Newcastle for just the second time in the Premier League, previously doing so in the 2004-05 campaign under David O’Leary.
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last seven Premier League games against Newcastle (W3 D4), having lost five of their seven against them before this (D2).
Newcastle have won their last two Premier League games, having won just one of their first 20 this season. The Magpies are looking to secure three consecutive league victories for the first time since November 2018.
None of Aston Villa’s last 15 Premier League away games has finished level (W6 L9), with the Villans alternating between victory (3) and defeat (2) in their last five. Their last draw on the road, however, did come at Newcastle in March (1-1).
Newcastle have had at least 10 shots in each of their last four Premier League games, averaging 15 shots per game across these matches. The Magpies are also averaging 5.3 shots on target in these games, two more than their average across the season beforehand (3.2).
Two of Newcastle’s last four Premier League goals have come from a direct free-kick, with Jonjo Shelvey netting against Leeds and Kieran Trippier doing so against Everton. Just two of their previous 116 league goals had come in this fashion.
Only Liverpool have failed to score in fewer Premier League games than Aston Villa (3) this season. The Villans have only failed to score in one of their 11 games under Steven Gerrard so far (0-1 vs Liverpool).
Danny Ings and Anwar El Ghazi scored in Aston Villa’s 2-0 win against Newcastle in the reverse fixture – the last player to score home and away league goals against the Magpies for the Villans in the same season was Juan Pablo Angel in 2004-05.
Philippe Coutinho has been involved in four goals in three Premier League games since joining Aston Villa (2 goals, 2 assists), with the Brazilian averaging a goal involvement every 44 minutes so far for the Villans.
The Last Meeting
Danny Ings produced a moment of sheer quality to help Aston Villa beat Newcastle United in August.
In first half stoppage time, the striker opened the scoring at Villa Park with a spectacular overhead kick.
VAR helped award the hosts a penalty in the second half, with Anwar El Ghazi dispatching the spot kick to seal all three points.
Team News
Ezri Konsa misses out after being sent-off late on against Leeds United in midweek, while Marvelous Nakamba remains sidelined.
Betrand Traore has picked up a hamstring injury and will miss some time, but positive news comes in the form of Leon Bailey’s imminent return.
On loan Villa man Matt Targett is ineligible to play on Sunday, while Eddie Howe is also sweating on the fitness of Kieran Trippier after he picked up a knock.
Paul Dummett and Federico Fernandez are getting closer to a return for the Magpies, who will be without Isaac Hayden, Matt Ritchie, Callum Wilson and Jamal Lewis.
The Boss
“They’ve come through a transfer window and made some real good additions to what they already had. They’ve got some dangerous players, Eddie’s got a good style and we go there giving them the utmost respect. Every team and every challenge in the Premier League is tough, difficult and dangerous in different ways, so we have to respect that and prepare in the best possible way.”
Steven Gerrard
