Premier League Preview: Aston Villa Vs Newcastle

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Villa Park will witness Premier League match time when Newcastle go to Aston Villa in match week 32, on Sunday, April 10.

The game will be the second of a two-legged contest the very first, hosted by Newcastle on August 22, 2010, ended 6- in the hosts' favour. Andy Carroll's hat-trick was the highlight of the Magpies' rout of manager-much less Villa, following the sudden departure of O'Neill from the helm. It was a day when nobody would have faulted caretaker MacDonald for not wanting to take permanent charge of the Villa Park squad.

Considerably credit should go to Chris Hughton for turning around a Newcastle squad who had been relegated 15 months earlier. Hughton's tactical acumen was there for all to see, as he utilized a 4-4-1-1 formation to devastating impact against Villa. His clever use of Nolan in between a midfield and an attacking role was one more pointer.

There was no indication of what was to follow, when Villa earned a penalty, early on in the game, when Ashley Young was brought down by Harper, in Newcastle's area. John Carew, assigned the job of converting the penalty into a lead, shot high more than the bar.

Villa, renowned for their strength on the counter-attack, had been subjected to a large dose of the identical, themselves, by Newcastle. For the Magpies, Barton was outstanding in midfield, and it was his aim in the 12th minute that put Newcastle ahead.

Head to head, Newcastle have established an 8-5 benefit over Aston Villa, in the last 20 league games played in between the sides, with the remaining 7 matches drawn.

In their last 10 league games, Aston Villa have registered two wins, when having drawn and lost 4 games each Newcastle have won two of their last 10, even though losing three and drawing the remaining 5. Of their 15 house games this season, Aston Villa have won 6, drawn five and lost 4, although Newcastle have won 5 of their 15 games on the road, though losing 7 and drawing the remaining three.

In match week 31, Aston Villa drew two-2 away at Everton, whilst Newcastle won 4-1 against Wolves, at home.

Newcastle are comfortably placed ninth on the points table, while Villa are in 16th, barely two points adrift of the relegation zone. On paper, at least, Villa ought to be the even more motivated team on the day, while present form says otherwise.

Aston Villa's starting eleven against Everton had the following players: Friedel, Walker, Dunne, Collins, Young, Downing, Makoun, Reo-Coker, Young, Agbonlahor and Bent. Heskey was used as a substitute.

Newcastle had the following men in their starting eleven against Wolves: Harper, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Ferguson, Barton, Guthrie, Nolan, Gutierrez, Ameobi and Lovenkrands. Ranger, Perch and Taylor featured as substitutes.