Prediction & odds for the game: Aston Villa (9/20) v Newcastle (11/2) – ST is backing the home win

When: Saturday, 23rd January @ 8pm K.O

Where: Villa Park

Aston Villa and Newcastle United will serve as the only Premier League game of the weekend when they meet at Villa Park on Saturday.

Aston Villa

After finally getting back to playing football earlier this week, Aston Villa are ready to kick on in an attempt to close the gap in the race for a place in the top six. At the start of the season that would’ve seemed like a far too unrealistic goal, but a lot has changed since then. They’ve got a strong squad, they have the confidence and belief that they can beat just about anyone in this league, and they go into the majority of games with very little fear.

Back-to-back 3-0 wins over West Brom and Crystal Palace were followed up by a 1-1 draw against Chelsea to finish off 2020, but ever since we hit the new year, things haven’t been quite so positive. They narrowly lost to Manchester United, their youngsters were beaten 4-1 by Liverpool, they had to wait 12 days to play again due to a COVID-19 outbreak and then Manchester City beat them 2-0 in a really entertaining game.

Newcastle

Newcastle United have experienced relegation down into the Championship a few times now, but that doesn’t mean supporters should be expecting it to happen every few seasons. A club of their stature should be fighting it out for a place in Europe but as we all know, it’s been many, many years since they were in a position to do so. Whether you want to blame Ashley or Bruce, it doesn’t really matter – they just have to fix it and fast.

The 0-0 draw against Liverpool on December 30th is starting to look more and more bizarre as we continue on through 2021, especially given that it followed a spirited performance in a loss to Manchester City. Since then they’ve lost to Leicester, Sheffield United and Arsenal twice – once in the Premier League and once in the FA Cup.

Conclusion

This really does feel like the final stand for Steve Bruce who, in all honesty, just seems to have partially given up on his attempts to make a success of his tenure with Newcastle United. They just aren’t doing anything right now that would indicate they’re in a position to fight for their place in the top flight, whereas on the flip side, Villa are one of the surprise packages of the season. We’re backing Dean Smith’s men to pick up all three points at the weekend.

Our official scoreline prediction is going to be 1-0 Aston Villa, ensuring we stick to the under 2.5 goals market.

Verdict: Back the home win at odds of 9/20 and the under 2.5 goals scored at odds of 6/5 (All odds are taken from bet365).

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If you want to bet on Aston Villa vs Newcastle then head on over to the betting page. Alternatively, you can check out some of the other available fixtures at the soccer predictions page as we continue through the journey of an incredibly unpredictable Premier League campaign.