We are heading towards the final quarter of the Premier League campaign and that journey continues on Friday evening when Newcastle United host Aston Villa to start off another weekend in the competition.
This is a huge match for Newcastle who are now teetering dangerous on the edge of the drop zone and in danger of dropping in if things go wrong for them this weekend. Villa are starting to get into the territory of letting a promising season fade away and have a chance to stop that happening here.
Where to watch
The match will be screened live in full on BT Sport 1. The build up to the match will get underway at 7.30pm and the match itself will kick off at 8pm.
Newcastle United
It must have been a painful few weeks for Newcastle United fans as they have seen their side drift towards the relegation zone bit by bit and unless something changes soon there seems to be an inevitability that they will eventually drop into it. Magpies fans need to hope that if they do drop in they do so early enough to escape rather than fall in when there is no chance to recover, but even then you get the impressive if they drop into the bottom three they will fade away tamely rather than fight.
Injuries have not helped Newcastle in this recent poor run. Callum Wilson is a big loss but they don’t score enough goals anyway and their approach prior to Graeme Jones arriving got them in a hole and they are paying the price now. The Toon seriously need a win and soon but if they couldn’t win when the drop zone wasn’t putting much pressure on them you wonder if they will be able to now they are under heavy scrutiny.
Aston Villa
From where they were last season to where they are now Aston Villa fans will be absolutely delighted with their progress but there is a caveat that they were riding higher in the earlier stages of the campaign. They have fell away from European contention which was looking like a real chance at one stage, with Covid-19 and a couple of key injuries doing them absolutely no favours. They haven’t really ever found their form in full since the Covid stoppage.
Villa go into this match with just one win in their last five matches. More of a concern is that they have now only scored five goals in their last eight games with the latter part of that run seeing them without Jack Grealish and while they want to stress they are not a one man team, the amount he contributes to chances and goals makes him a huge loss. It is unlikely they will convince in front of goal in his absence.
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Team News
Newcastle United and their lack of goals will not be helped any by the continued absences of Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron, the only three attacking players who have shown anything for then this term. Javier Manquillo and Federico Fernandez could be in line to start.
Aston Villa remain without their talisman Jack Grealish which is a big blow to their hopes of winning this match. They could welcome Matty Cash back however and Anwar El Ghazi may also be fit to feature in the game.
Betting
If you are expecting a high scoring match here I suspect that you might be disappointed as I expect the exact opposite and I’m slightly surprised that under 2.5 goals is as big as 1.70 here. Newcastle never score many goals at the best of times but when they are without probably their three best attacking players it is hard to see them offering much in that department while Villa’s goal output has dried up significantly since Jack Grealish came out of the side.
If Steve Bruce wasn’t going to be expansive when his side were comfortably away from the bottom three he isn’t going to do it now While Villa are struggling for goals they are pretty good defensively and the return of Matty Cash will help them with that. Then when you add in the schedules and the potential for tired legs it is hard to see this being anything other than a low scoring, tight grind of a game so I like under 2.5 goals here.
Tips
WON – Back Under 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.70 with Betfair
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