Newcastle United welcome Aston Villa to St. James’ Park on Wednesday night for their second game since the restart.
A win for Newcastle could see them push up the league into the top half. Whilst Villa desperately need points in their battle to avoid the drop.
Sunday afternoon saw Newcastle cruise to 3-0 victory over Sheffield United. Goals from Saint-Maximin, Matt Ritchie and Joelinton secured the emphatic win for the home side.
The sending off of Blades defender John Egan was the game-changer. With all three goals coming after the sending off.
Sunday afternoon also saw Aston Villa surrender a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to Chelsea and lose an important three-points. The home side went ahead thanks to Kortney Hause capitalising on some poor defending to put his side 1-0 before half time. Then in the space of two minutes, Villa fell apart. Goals from substitute Christian Pulisic and then Frenchman Oliver Giroud capped a two-minute turn around for the away side.Â
The reverse fixture between the two sides saw Newcastle fall to a 2-0 defeat away at Villa Park.Â
This game could prove to be a perfect opportunity for Newcastle to win three games in a row for the first time under Steve Bruce.
Aston Villa are currently on a run of six games without a win. The away side have the second-worst away record in the league (2W, 2D, 11L).
The team news for Newcastle sees Matty and Sean Longstaff as the home sides only injury concerns. The two brothers missed out at the weekend and this game may be too soon as well. The only selection headache for Steve Bruce maybe at right-back after Javier Manquillo impressed in place of DeAndre Yedlin.
The team news for Aston Villa sees long term absentees Bjorn Engles, Fredric Guilbert, Tom Heaton and Wesley still unavailable. Midfielder Danny Drinkwater is close to a comeback but this game may be too soon.
Newcastle team prediction: Dubravka; Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Rose; Ritchie, Shelvey, Hayden, Saint-Maximin; Almiron; JoelintonÂ
Aston Villa team prediction: Nyland; Konsa, Hause, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Nakamba, Hourihane; El Ghazi, Samatta, Grealish