Former Aston Villa striker, Chris Sutton has offered his prediction ahead of the Newcastle United clash at Villa Park tonight.
This week Aston Villa will be looking to return to winning ways as they welcome Newcastle United to Villa Park.
The last three games for the Villans have seen a lack of goals and Unai Emery will be hoping he can rectify that. It must be said that Newcastle have struggled in recent weeks and will also be looking to bounce back.
Ahead of the game, former Villa striker, Chris Sutton has offered his opinion and prediction of the game this week.
Last time out
The last time that these two sides met, it couldn’t have gone much worse for Emery and his side despite lots of optimism.
It started badly as Sandro Tonali grabbed an early debut goal before Moussa Diaby scored a debut goal of his own. This was all followed my Alexander Isak putting the home side up front.
What followed was a heartwrenching moment which saw Tyrone Mings pick up a season-ending injury after 30 minutes.
Discussing the game with the BBC, Sutton first discussed the last time that Villa faced Newcastle in the league.
On that, he said: “I remember this game well from the start of the season when Newcastle won 5-1 at St James’ Park. Aston Villa had a horrible day in the north-east, with Tyrone Mings picking up a serious injury on top of their heavy defeat, but I am expecting them to get their revenge here.”
There will certainly be a thought in the back of the Villa players’ minds of what happened to them last time the two sides met.
Fans will be hoping that the players will use this to spur them on and go out there at Villa Park and get a great result.
Sutton on Newcastle clash
Coming into this game, Villa have drawn their last two games 0-0 while prior to that they narrowly beat Middlesbrough 1-0.
In the Premier League, the Villans have lost just once since November and that was on boxing day against Manchester United.
On the away side’s form, Sutton said: “Newcastle got a good win against Fulham in the FA Cup on Saturday. They have lost four in a row in the league and have a dreadful away record. Sheffield United are the only top-flight team to pick up fewer points on the road this season.
“Villa Park is not the place you go to turn that kind of run around, and it feels like Newcastle’s season is unravelling a bit because they cannot sign any more players in this window. Instead, they just seem to be trying to hang on to a few, with lots of rumours about who could still be leaving.”
It is safe to so say that Villa will fancy their chances against a faltering Newcastle side. This is especially at home given that they have gone nearly a year without a defeat.
Coming into the game there will be many players looking to prove themselves and return to form against the Magpies.
