Interesting comments from this BBC Sport pundit on Newcastle United.
Chris Sutton speaking as United prepare to play their ninth match of the 2026/27 season.
Newcastle United up against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
A 5.30pm kick-off on Saturday.
Matthias Jaissle hoping to see his team bounce back from a bizarre Monday night against Coventry City, where Newcastle United created far more clear chances and dominated so much of the game, yet were undermined by atrocious finishing and shocking defensive lapses on the first and third Coventry goals (the referee taking the credit for the second home goal…).
The BBC Sport pundit declaring ahead of Saturday: “This has the makings of a great game. Newcastle’s defeat at Coventry on Monday was such a wild game. The way the Magpies play, they just go for it, and load players into the front line. They lost 4-1 in the end but the scoreline could have been anything with the number of chances Newcastle had.”
I largely agree with Chris Sutton on that analysis.
The BBC Sport pundit declares it as a “wild game” on Monday and I still don’t know how United managed to lose the match, never mind lose it 4-1, considering NUFC had far more chances than Coventry but found ingenious ways not to convert them into goals. Whereas pretty much everything that Coventry players hit, most times from distance, ended up on target and also getting the rub of the green with deflections.
An object lesson as well maybe for the Newcastle players, Coventry prepared to have a go from the edge of the box or further out and the sole goal United scored was a screamer by Botman from distance.
Chris Sutton adding: “Aston Villa have made a slow start to the Premier League season results-wise but I think they done all right, bearing in mind what their manager Unai Emery has had to deal with in terms of the players they lost. Johan Manzambi is getting fitter every game and Nicolas Jackson has found some great form. It takes time for a team to come together but I thought they were really good against Brentford last weekend, but just weren’t ruthless enough. That wasn’t a problem against Fenerbahce on Wednesday, though. This is a really hard one to call and the only thing I know for certain is that there will be a few goals.”
The BBC Sport pundit predicts a 3-2 win for Aston Villa on Saturday but seen as Chris Sutton has now only predicted a win for Newcastle United in one of the seven NUFC Premier League forecasted games so far, that is hardly a surprise.
Ironically, Chris Sutton has now predicted six wins for Aston Villa in his seven forecasts for Villa Premier League matches. The reality has been that instead of five wins in their opening six, it has actually just been the one fortunate EPL victory over hapless Tottenham. Even then Villa almost threw it away, clinging on to a 3-2 win after having led 3-0.
Saturday is a match where I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends in a win, draw, or defeat for Newcastle United. Hopefully though United will prove the BBC Sport pundit wrong this time…