After a 0-0 draw with Everton last time out in the Premier League – Unai Emery’s first goalless result in the English top flight, in his 97th game – Aston Villa played out another stalemate in their most recent fixture, away to Chelsea in the FA Cup.
Having only beaten Championship side Middlesbrough 1-0 in their first outing of 2024, goals have begun to dry up for the previously free-scoring Villans, who have now won just two of their last six matches.
While a cup replay awaits, with a place in the fifth round still at stake, Emery will want to rekindle his side’s momentum on Tuesday evening, when they make a welcome return to home soil.
Following a run of three straight away games, Villa will be back in Birmingham, where they have won 16 of their last 17 Premier League games since losing 4-2 to Arsenal last February. Indeed, the West Midlands club have been behind for just 43 minutes at Villa Park in the league this season.
Emery has forged an attacking outfit, but their recent rise has also been based on defensive solidity: they have conceded just nine times in the first half of top-flight matches this term, with no side shipping fewer before the break.
Unbeaten in their last six home games against Newcastle United, Villa have won the last four in a row without conceding. Having last lost to the Toon as hosts in September 2013, they will now aim to keep that streak going and also gain revenge for their woeful opening-day defeat on Tyneside.
Following that spectacular 5-1 success back in August, Newcastle are now looking to complete a Premier League double over Aston Villa for the first time in a decade.
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However, the Magpies will arrive in the second city having lost their last four Premier League matches – conceding at least three goals in each of the last three – while plummeting down to 10th place in the table.
Since beating Manchester United at the start of December, with their seventh win in 10 league games, no team has taken fewer points than Eddie Howe’s men, who have at least found some solace in the FA Cup.
After thumping bitter rivals Sunderland 3-0 in the third round, Newcastle followed a heartbreaking 3-2 league defeat to Manchester City with another cup victory on Saturday, when goals from local lads Sean Longstaff and Dan Burn saw off Fulham at Craven Cottage and booked a place in the fifth round draw.
