Preview: Aston Villa vs Newcastle United - prediction, team news, lineups

An all-Premier League tie in the fourth round of the FA Cup takes centre stage at Villa Park on Saturday evening, as Aston Villa play host to Newcastle United.

The Magpies will be seeking revenge against Villa after suffering a 2-0 top-flight defeat at St James’ Park just three weeks ago.

Match preview

After dropping precious points in back-to-back Premier League games against Brentford (1-0 defeat) and Bournemouth (1-1 draw), Aston Villa returned to winning ways on Wednesday night when they edged past Brighton & Hove Albion by a 1-0 scoreline on home soil, courtesy of an 86th-minute own goal from Jack Hinshelwood.

Sitting third in the table, Unai Emery’s side capitalised on both Man United in fourth and Chelsea in fifth dropping points, and they have strengthened their hopes of securing Champions League football for next season. The possibility of ending the season on a high with FA Cup glory also remains alive for the seven-time winners.

Aston Villa knocked out Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup third round last month, winning 2-1 in North London, and they also eliminated Spurs in the fourth round of last season’s competition. However, they have not progressed beyond this stage in consecutive campaigns since doing so between 2008-09 and 2010-11.

In five of the previous six seasons Villa and Newcastle have butted heads in the FA Cup, either the former (1895, 1897, 1905, 1924) or the latter (1905, 1924, 1952) have progressed to the final that year, with two of those campaigns seeing the two teams meet in the showpiece event (1904-05 and 1923-24).

Villa have knocked Newcastle out of the FA Cup four times (1894-95, 1896-97, 1904-05, 2000-01), losing the other two ties in the 1923-24 final and third round in 1951-52, while they are also unbeaten in their last three meetings with the Magpies (W2 D1) in all competitions, scoring six goals and conceding only one.

Just three days after being booed off by the St James’ Park faithful following a chastening 3-2 home defeat to Brentford, Newcastle hauled themselves up off the canvas and claimed three valuable points in a 2-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday - just their third away win in 13 PL games this season.

It was a damaging night for Thomas Frank who has since been sacked by Spurs, but Magpies boss Eddie Howe will certainly be savouring that victory, having previously seen his side win just one game in eight across all competitions (D2 L5), conceding 15 goals in the process.

Sitting 10th in the Premier League table, Newcastle have a challenging run of fixtures on the horizon, facing Man City, Everton, Man United, Chelsea and Sunderland in their next five league games, as well as a Champions League knockout round playoff against Qarabag that includes a 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan.

The Magpies must first shift their attention to the FA Cup and will endeavour to progress beyond the fourth round for the third season in a row when they face Villa. Howe’s men required penalties to edge past Bournemouth in round three last month following a thrilling 3-3 draw in the North East.

Newcastle head into Saturday’s contest having won six of their last 11 FA Cup away ties (D2 L3), having gone 15 without a win on the road beforehand. However, the Magpies have lost 10 of their last 13 away ties against Premier League opponents (W2 D1), failing to score in eight of their last nine.

Aston Villa FA Cup form:

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

Newcastle United FA Cup form:

Newcastle United form (all competitions):

Team News

Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans (ankle), John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara (both knee) and Andres Garcia (thigh) all remain sidelined with injuries, while January arrival Alysson has recovered from a knee issue and the winger should be named in the matchday squad.

Matty Cash missed the midweek win over Brighton with a knee problem and will not be involved against Newcastle, so Lamare Bogarde is poised to continue at right-back, while Victor Lindelof, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne could all join him in a four-man defence.

Morgan Rogers has been involved in four goals in five FA Cup starts for Aston Villa (three goals, one assist), netting in their third-round win over Spurs last month, and he is expected to continue in an advanced central role behind either Ollie Watkins or Tammy Abraham up front.

As for Newcastle, Joelinton (groin), Tino Livramento (thigh), Fabian Schar (ankle) and Emil Krafth (knee) all remain out with injuries, while Howe is sweating over the fitness of Bruno Guimaraes (hamstring) and Lewis Miley (thigh) who have emerged as doubts for the trip to Villa Park.

Former Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey scored the winning goal against Tottenham in midweek and is likely to retain his starting spot in the middle of the pitch alongside Sandro Tonali and Joe Willock.

Should Howe opt to play with a natural centre-forward - either Nick Woltemade or Yoane Wissa - one of Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes or Anthony Elanga is set to make way, most likely the latter.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Bizot; Bogarde, Lindelof, Torres, Digne; Onana, Luiz; Bailey, Rogers, Buendia; Abraham

Newcastle United possible starting lineup:

Pope; Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Willock, Tonali, Ramsey; Barnes, Woltemade, Gordon

We say: Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle United (Aston Villa to win on penalties)

There are no replays in the FA Cup this season, so this closely-contested battle between two evenly-matched teams has the potential to go the distance. Aston Villa have had the upper hand over Newcastle in recent meetings and they may just do enough on this occasion to edge through to the fifth round.

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