It wasn’t the prettiest result, or the most glorious win, but Aston Villa achieved a 1-0 victory over Brighton, in front of their home fans last night. It ended their two game losing streak at home, and it gives them some momentum heading into their FA Cup clash with Newcastle United on Saturday.
Newcastle are feeling good themselves, having beaten Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on Tuesday night, and thus ending the regime of Thomas Frank.
FA Cup 4th Round FYIs
Newcastle United at Aston Villa
Kickoff: Sat. Feb 14, 5:45pm
Team News: Newcastle United Aston Villa
Key Stat: Unai Emery in his last 10 vs Newcastle- W6D1L3
Venue: Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
Aston Villa Team News vs Newcastle United
No real changes here, other than the knee inflammation issue for Matty Cash. He’ll miss out here, but should be back next week. Other than that, the Villans came out of the win over Brighton unscathed from injury. John McGinn (knee), Boubacar Kamara (knee), Youri Tielemans (ankle), and Andres Garcia (thigh) remain sidelined due to injury.
So with that, we’ll just move on to the starting lineup prediction, which projects to have some squad rotation. The FA Cup brings about a chance to let some second team guys get some run here.
Aston Villa Predicted XI vs Newcastle United
Marco Bizot, Lamare Bogarde, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Douglas Luiz, Amadou Onana, Leon Bailey, Morgan Rogers, Emi Buendia, Tammy Abraham
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.