Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote returns to the squad after missing the last three games with a groin injury.
Otherwise, Steve McClaren will have the same players available who earned a victory at Tottenham last Sunday.
Aston Villa manager Remi Garde expects to be without captain Micah Richards with the knee injury which has seen the defender miss the last two matches.
Villa’s only other injury doubt is midfielder Gary Gardner, who is also suffering with a knee problem.
Editor’s Note: We have a 6 pointer on our hands this evening with resurgent Newcastle taking on abject Aston Villa.
Newcastle’s situation has improved as of late, this is due in no small part to the wins over Liverpool and Tottenham over the past fortnight. It seems as if Steve McClaren’s work on the training pitch is now bearing fruit and they will go into this evenings game confident of securing a third win in a row.
It was the substitutions that won the game last Sunday so McClaren will have to decide whether Alexsandar Mitrovic and Ayose Perez have done enough to be included from the start against Villa. They certainly looked a more dangerous prospect once Mitrovic came on against Spurs
That won’t be good news for Aston Villa who are still looking for their first win since the opening day of the season and Remi Garde is still looking for his first win since taking charge of the Birmingham club.
But he’s going to have to get a lot more out of his Villa players who offered very little against Arsenal last Sunday with the way The Gunners’ second goal was scored pretty much showing why Villa are set for the drop this season
Villa now find themselves 8 point from safety and are going to have start turning in some performances soon if they have any chance of staying up but the problem is there aren’t 3 worse sides than them in the league this season, there isn’t even 1 they are by far the poorest side this season.
I think the momentum will continue for the Geordies as McClaren has shored them up at the back and can only see a home win and further step away from the drop zone for Newcastle.
