Match Preview: Villa v NUFC
By Tyne-Talk
February 8 2008
Newcastle travel to Villa Park tomorrow lunchtime for their 26th match of the season. They face a Villa side who have one 11 matches so far this season and drawn 8. This is in stark contrast to Newcastle's 7 wins and 7 draws.
Newcastle looks let to welcome back Enrique who has recovered from a hamstring injury and both Habib Beye and Abdoulaye Faye who have returned from international duty at the African Cup of Nations.
Viduka who came on as a Sub against Middlesbrough last weekend could start after Obafemi Martins returned from international duty with an ankle injury.
Charles N'Zogbia will miss the game due to suspension, and Alan Smith needs to be very careful after picking up his 9th booking of the season against Boro and so is 1 away from a 2nd suspension.
For Villa, Ashley Young looks set to start after his suspension last week, as does defender Curtis Davies who has recovered from a knee injury picked up against Fulham.
Unfortunately for Villa, leading goal scorer Gabriel Agbonlahor is almost certainly unavailable after picking up an injury last week, which saw him, withdraw from the England squad mid-week. Agbonlahor has played in every one of the 70 games Villa have had since Martin O'Neil took the managerial position. Villa are also likely to be missing midfielder Stiliyan Petrov who also missed out on an international start for his country last week due to concussion.
Marlon Harewood looks set to start in place of Agbonlahor; a starting place would be his first in the Premier League at the club.
Aston Villa | Newcastle United | |
25 | Played | 25 |
41 | Points | 28 |
11 | Won | 7 |
8 | Drawn | 7 |
6 | Lost | 11 |
44 | Goals Scored | 28 |
33 | Goals Conceded | 43 |
Teams: Aston Villa (from): Carson, Taylor, Sorensen, Mellberg, Laursen, Davies, Knight, Bouma, Petrov, Gardner, Reo-Coker, Barry, Berger, Osbourne, Young, Maloney, Carew, Harewood, Moore, Agbonlahor, Routledge.
Newcastle (from): Given, Harper, Forster, Carr, Beye, Enrique, Cacapa, Taylor, Faye, Edgar, Butt, Smith, Milner, Duff, Emre, Barton, LuaLua, Owen, Viduka, Ameobi, Carroll.
Televised KO - 12.45pm Tomorrow
I can't remember who said it but am starting to believe it true, "Toon Strikers+International duty=
!"