Predicted Newcastle team v Aston Villa – One change | OneFootball

Looking at the Newcastle team v Aston Villa.

Eddie Howe and his players hoping to continue the levels of their last three excellent wins and performances against Leicester, Brentford and Ipswich.

Three victories and eleven goals scored, just the one conceded.

So can Newcastle United follow up progress to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, by closing further on the top spots in the Premier League on Boxing Day?

A win today would see United go a point above Aston Villa and potentially end this round of fixtures in fifth, if other results also went Newcastle’s way.

What can we expect the Newcastle team v Aston Villa to be?

As a starting point, this was the Newcastle team v Ipswich:

Dubravka, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Willock, Murphy, Isak, Gordon

Eddie Howe gave an injury and availability update on Monday morning.

The good news, was that there were no new injuries to report after the Ipswich match.

The likes of Callum Wilson, Nick Pope, Emil Krafth and Jamaal Lascelles are set to remain missing though. However, rumours in the media that Sven Botman could potentially make his long-awaited return to the matchday squad, though zero chance surely that he would be considered for the starting eleven at this stage.

Anyway, my take on all of this, my best guesstimate of the Newcastle team v Aston Villa is:

Dubravka, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Joelinton, Murphy, Isak, Gordon

In these last three wins, the only change Eddie Howe made, was to replace the suspended Joelinton with Joe Willock at Ipswich.

That was only a one match suspension and whilst the Head Coach said on Monday he would have to check on the Brazilian, with him having had stitches around the area of his ear after the Brentford match. Difficult to believe that he won’t be up for returning today.

Nobody played badly at Ipswich but Joe Willock one of the lesser lights in that comprehensive hammering. He didn’t do anything to make it impossible for Eddie Howe to leave him out today.

Against Aston Villa, I simply can’t see Joelinton not returning to the starting eleven. He will be determined to see his midfield win that battle in the middle of the pitch and for me, that means Tonali, Bruno and Joelinton to start. A trio who can hopefully win that midfield contest and give the platform for a Newcastle United victory.

Unless there are any unwelcome surprise injuries, difficult to see any other changes contemplated for this Newcastle team v Aston Villa.

One of those who often sees his place in the team questioned is Jacob Murphy. However, he is in a hot run of scoring goals and providing assists in recent matches, so I would be amazed if he wasn’t starting today.

Thursday 26 December – Newcastle v Villa (3pm) Amazon

Monday 30 December – Man U v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 4 January – Tottenham v Newcastle (12.30pm) TNT Sports

Tuesday 7 January – Arsenal v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports and ITV1 and ITVX

Sunday 12 January – Newcastle v Bromley (3pm) BBC iPlayer (FA Cup)

Wednesday 15 January – Newcastle v Wolves (7.30pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 18 January – Newcastle v Bournemouth (12.30pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 25 January – Southampton v Newcastle (3pm)

Saturday 1 February – Newcastle v Fulham (3pm)

Wednesday 5 February – Newcastle v Arsenal (8pm) Sky Sports