Who’ll win the tactical battle?Date: Sunday 23rd February 2014. Time: 13:30. Venue: St James’ Park. Referee: Martin Atkinson. UK TV: Sky Sports 1.
It’s a mid-table battle at St James’ Park on Sunday as Newcastle play Aston Villa and I reckon both teams will think they can win it too.
Villa will fancy their chances against us given our recent atrocious run of form. But having the home advantage against mid-table opposition should give us some hope that we might be able to use this fixture to halt our recent decline, which would be a welcome relief.
The league form for both teams from the last eight games looks like this:
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts/Max
Last 8
Newcastle
8
1
1
6
3
15
4/24
L|L|L|W|D|L|L|L
Aston Villa
8
2
3
3
10
12
9/24
D|W|L|D|W|L|L|D
As you can see, Villa’s form is better than ours to the tune of five points over the last eight games. Villa managed a draw away to Cardiff in the last game whereas our last point was at Norwich on the 28th January. We haven’t scored a goal since the match before that – away to West Ham on 18th January – and it’s probably no coincidence that we’ve been without Yohan Cabaye for all four of the intervening games and without Loic Remy for the last three of them. (more…)
Villa sign a younger replacement for Shay Given?Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Sunday 2nd September,2012. Kick-Off: 4:00pm. Referee: Lee Probert. UK TV: None.
Sunday brings Premier League football back to St James’ Park as Aston Villa provide the opponents for a 4pm kick-off. There will be no UK TV broadcast of the fixture so it will be time to scour the internet for links if you’re not attending the match.
Newcastle will look to bounce back from last weeks defeat at Chelsea. While Villa have lost both their Premier League fixtures to date, a 0-1 loss to West Ham, and a 3-1 defeat to Everton last week at Villa Park. Historically Villa have struggled at St James Park, with only one win in the last twelve years. So the omens do look good if you believe records mean something.
Newcastle United Vs Aston Villa History
The way in which the Villans goaded the Magpies back in 2009 when Newcastle were relegated still strikes a nerve with many Toon followers. On Newcastle’s return to the Premier League in 2010 / 2011, Villa provided our first opponents at home, so a chance for some kind of retribution presented itself. Joey Barton, a Kevin Nolan double and an Andy Carroll hat trick helped to inflict a 6-0 mauling for the Magpies. Last season, Papiss Cissé introduced himself in style, controlling Jonas‘ left wing cross and lashing a volley past ex-Magpie Shay Given to secure a 2-1 victory. The last time we lost to Villa at St James’ Park was during the 2004 / 2005 season, where we witnessed Lee Bowyer and KieronDyer fall out very publically and get themselves sent off for fighting after Bowyer felt that Dyer was refusing to pass the ball to him in the game. (more…)
The Boys Are Back on Toon!Venue: St James’Park, NE1 Date: 5th February 2012 Kick Off: 1.30pm Referee: Mark Halsey
I never used to bother much about Aston Villa. They were just one of those “middle of the road” clubs who chug along season after season with reasonable-sized crowds but nothing particular to shout about. I got a bit annoyed at them when they kept trying to pinch James Milner a few years ago, but I suppose the point at which my attitude towards them changed significantly was in May of 2009.
It was during the game we lost at Villa Park which sealed our relegation from the Premier League. Being relegated was a massive blow to United, the club, the management, the fans – but the puerile chanting and infantile banners on display that day by a section of the Villa support were a disgrace to their club and will live long in the memory. These days I therefore have them in the same list as the likes of Tottenham and Man Utd – teams I just love to see us beat – for various reasons I won’t go into here, but which I’m sure some of you share.
With this in mind, Villa could hardly be arriving at St James’ Park at a better time. United are back in town after three away games on the trot culminating in the win at Blackburn Rovers. Demba Ba is also back from his exploits with Senegal and is raring to get amongst the goals once again. He’s certain to start. This time of course, we also have his Senegalese strike partner Papiss Demba Cisse in the squad, wearing the famous Newcastle United number nine shirt. We don’t know at this stage whether Cisse will start the game. Manager Alan Pardew has been hinting at allowing him to soak up the atmosphere from the bench first, before unleashing him to what would be a certain gladitorial entrance, the likes of which only a Newcastle crowd can conjure up. It’s a judgement call. Personally, the way the weather is in the North East at the moment, especially the temperature, I’d let him on from the start so he can run around and keep warm! (more…)
Napoleon awaits at Villa Park!This weeks match sees Newcastle United facing Aston Villa at Villa Park.
In the usual pre-match interviews, Captain, Kevin Nolan, referring to the Aston Villa victory that sent Newcastle tumbling down to the Championship the season before last, said that “We haven’t got a score to settle or a point to prove as such,” though I would have thought that score was well and truly settled when a Chris Hughton and Kevin Nolan led side slaughtered the hapless Villans 6-0 in our home game earlier in the season. Of course, many Newcastle United away fans will also remember the rather disgraceful behaviour of some sections of the Aston Villa supporters as they savoured the schadenfreude of Newcastle’s relegation, but I won’t go into that in any detail here.
With much water having passed under the bridge since that glorious victory, including both sides being under different management and suffering with form that can be somewhat erratic, this game could be a hard one to predict. Having written that, Newcastle are seven places above Villa in the current Premier League table, though as most of you will no doubt know, this can be very deceptive this season with so few points separating the mid table from the bottom. In the case of Aston Villa who are teetering over the relegation abyss, and seemingly comfortable in mid table Newcastle, it is only five points. (more…)
