Tis the season everyone! Festive fixtures, accentuated by the traditional Boxing Day full slate of action, is upon us. Celebrate the Yuletide with our preview of Newcastle United vs Aston Villa, one of the more captivating matches on Boxing Day docket.
Villa worked their way up the table last season, to the point that they earned a UEFA Champions League for this campaign.
Boxing Day FYIs
Newcastle United vs Aston Villa FYIs
Kickoff: Thurs. Dec. 26, 3pm, St. James Park
Preview Content for Both Teams: Starting XI Predictions Team News
PL Form, Standings: Aston Villa 6th, 28 pts, LWWLW Newcastle 8th 26 pts, DDLWW
Google Result Probability: Aston Villa 24 Draw 24% Newcastle 52%
The same could be said for Newcastle the previous season. Both clubs, however, have taken a step back, at least so far, this term. So this is a matchup of two sides that are kind of in the same place in the grand scheme of things.
So with that all in mind, let’s get to the starting lineup predictions.
Starting XI Predictions
Aston Villa
Emi Martinez; Ezra Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne; Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans; Matty Cash, Rogers, John McGinn; Ollie Watkins
Newcastle
Nick Pope; Tino Livramento, Fabian Schar, Lloyd Kelly, Lewis Hall; Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes, Sean Longstaff; Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak
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, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. 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, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.