Welcome to the Aston Villa v Newcastle preview.
Saturday 14th February and a 5.30pm kick-off.
Any wives thinking their husbands have booked them a villa away for Valentines Day, may be in for a nasty surprise this weekend, as NUFC travel to Birmingham to do battle in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
This is the third meeting of the sides so far this season with Newcastle yet to score against their opponents.
Both teams will be looking to take another step closer to Wembley.
Despite Newcastle and Villa still competing in Europe, this may represent the most likely chance of silverware for either side and both managers will be desperate for further progress in the most prestigious domestic cup competition in football.
Form
Newcastle reached this stage by beating Bournemouth on penalties following a somewhat bizarre 3-3 draw. Our cup form has been generally good this season with a run to the League Cup semi-final and progress into the play-off rounds of the Champions League.
Aston Villa reached the fourth round by beating Tottenham away. They took a two-goal lead by half-time and survived a second half comeback to hang on for a 2-1 win. They went out of the League Cup in the third round, losing on penalties to Brentford but have done well in Europe and have qualified for the last-sixteen of the Europa League.
Last time out
Newcastle travelled to Tottenham on Tuesday night and put in a really good shift to achieve a cracking result. Attacking Spurs from the off, Joe Willock thought he had given Toon the lead near the end of the first half only to be denied by one of the most ludicrous VAR decisions of the season. Just when it looked like we’d have to go into the break at 0-0, Malick Thiaw put NUFC ahead when his bullet header was saved and he reacted first to prod the ball past the ‘keeper. This was no less than United deserved after a completely dominant forty-five minutes. Spurs were a little brighter after half-time but Newcastle were still by far the better team, so it was a real setback when an equaliser was scored from the first corner we conceded, especially as we hadn’t been able to score from our eleven at this point. Thankfully, Spurs’ joy was short-lived as the Toon retook the lead just a few minutes later when great work from Gordon teed up Ramsey to open his account for the club with a well-taken winner. This was a much needed and well deserved win that will provide a real boost for Eddie Howe and his team.
Aston Villa hosted Brighton on Wednesday night and secured a 1-0 win near the end. Villa were second best during most of the second half but came away with all three points when forcing home an own goal with just a few minutes remaining. They were able to grind out this result to remain third in the league, just seven points off Arsenal in first.
Stat Attack!
-Newcastle have only won one of the past ten away trips to Villa Park.
-NUFC have failed to find the net in five of their last seven visits to Aston Villa.
-The Toon have achieved nine Premier League away victories over Villa.
Memorable match
Near the start of the 13/14 season, a raucous away end at Villa Park was treated to a fine away win courtesy of an inspirational performance from Hatem Ben Arfa. The Frenchman had already scored the winning goal the previous weekend against Fulham and it took just eighteen minutes for him to net again when great work down the left from debutant Loic Remy saw him combine with Papiss Cisse to tee up a close-range chance. Ben Arfa finished with ease and was at the heart of everything as United threatened to run riot. The start of the second half saw Villa come out swinging and equalise through a Benteke header in the sixty-seventh minute. Back came United however and just a few minutes later Ben Arfa ran at the defence, cut inside and fired a shot from outside of the box that could only be parried into the path of Yohan Gouffran who lashed the loose ball past the ‘keeper. This strike sent the traveling fans into ecstasy and proved to be the winning goal, ensuring back-to-back victories for the black and whites. Aston Villa 1-2 Newcastle
Played for both
Ronny Johnsen played for Aston Villa for two seasons between 2002 and 2004 before signing for Graeme Souness’ Newcastle. Johnsen was a talented defender who had previously won the treble whilst playing for Man Utd. Unfortunately, he was to only play a handful of games for the Toon as age and fitness caught up with his career.
Ciaran Clark played for Aston Villa between 2009 and 2016 and scored a header against Newcastle in a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park in 2012. He signed for Rafa Benitez in 2016 and formed a solid partnership in defence with Jamaal Lascelles, as the Toon looked to gain promotion from the Championship at the first time of asking. A combative player with an eye for the odd goal, Clark would go on to make over one-hundred appearances in a seven year spell on Tyneside and also played over thirty times for the Republic of Ireland.
Charles N’Zogbia spent five years at NUFC and scored a number of fine goals, including a curling free-kick at home to Fulham, a well-taken effort away at Blackburn and an absolute beauty in a 4-1 win against the Mackems. He signed for Wigan in 2009 and then Villa in 2011, where he spent five years, scoring four goals.
Managers
Eddie Howe after a 2-1 win away at Tottenham:
“I thought the players were all out on the pitch, we were getting cramp at the end. Our schedule has been relentless but I thought the performance was brilliant. It was a great finish from JJ (Jacob Ramsey). He’s getting accustomed to the team. I thought Bruno’s performance in the middle of the pitch was really strong. We’ve been waiting for that momentum shift for a long time this season. We just haven’t strung it together long enough this season. It’sgoing to be tough for the players but a great result today. I think in the moment that we were in, you have to take stock of everything. As I said after the press conference at Brentford, that wasn’t an act. That was me being very real and very genuine in terms of how I felt. I said again that l’ve got to believe that I am the right person to be in the job with all the sacrifices that it entails. I’ve got to feel the players are playing for me. Today they showed that they are. But that has to be consistent moving forward. I think it’s brought us closer together and it’s reinforced relationships and made us all look inward. It made us all look at what we’re doing and how we can do it better.”
Unai Emery after a 1-0 win over Brighton:
“Very important. We needed to win and compete and respect them like we did. The match was tight and for ninety minutes equal in some ways but I think we created the most chances and more times we got into their box. We much recovered our energy and confidence after we lost our last two matches in the Premier League. We needed this victory. We now need to put this competition to the back of our minds until we play again in ten days against Leeds. Now we try to focus on the FA Cup on Saturday.”
Charity
As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online.
Prediction
This has all the hallmarks of an FA Cup classic! Both teams will see this as a real opportunity to eliminate a potential rival and preserve dreams of an appearance at Wembley. Newcastle looked good against Tottenham midweek, whereas Villa seemed jaded in their win over Brighton. I’m going for goals in this one with the tie going to extra time before the Toon secure a famous FA Cup victory. Aston Villa 2-2 Newcastle (2-3 after extra time)