Newcastle United travel to Villa Park on Saturday evening for an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Aston Villa.
The Magpies secured their place in this round after a 3-3 draw with Bournemouth ended with a penalty shootout win for the Geordies.
Eddie Howe’s side responded to a recent run of poor league form with a 2-1 away win at Tottenham Hotspur in midweek, their third Premier League victory on the road this season, but that doesn’t mean it’s all good now in Tyneside. The lads still sit 10th in the table
and must advance in the FA Cup if they want to keep their title-winning, Europa League-clinching hopes alive.
Injuries remain a concern, however. Joelinton, Tino Livramento, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth are unavailable, while Bruno Guimaraes is a game-time decision, and Lewis Miley is out. Jacob Ramsey, who scored the winner at Tottenham, is expected to start in midfield.
Aston Villa enter the game after a 1-0 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion and sit third in the Premier League. They defeated Tottenham in the previous round and are unbeaten in their last three meetings with Newcastle in all competitions.
Villa are without Youri Tielemans, John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara, among others, but have maintained strong home form heading into the weekend, and should be considered the favorites to advance on Saturday.
Here are some of Howe’s Wisdom Nuggets, courtesy of NUFC.co.uk
On Miley and Guimaraes’ fitness…
“With Lewi, we are waiting day-by-day, he’s got a dead leg – he got a bad knock to his thigh and I think there was a bit of muscle damage on the knock. He’s having scans on it every few days to see how that is. We don’t think it’s going to be long term – hopefully he will be back pretty quickly, so let’s wait and see on that one.
“With Bruno, we are awaiting the full extent of his hamstring injury.”
On Joelinton and Livramento…
“Joelinton’s doing really well. I don’t think he’ll make this game, but he’s not going to be too far away beyond this game.
“He’s desperate to be back involved, as he normally is, but that’s a great sign for us – that means he’s feeling good about his body, and he’s very positive.
“Tino’s on track. I think early March was the diagnosis, the return to play (date), and at the moment he’s back on grass, he’s running, he’s building his fitness back up and we’re happy with how he’s doing.”
On the importance of an FA Cup run…
“We would love to have one. I get asked a lot about the cup competitions – I think I was asked the other night about our attitude to it. Our attitude won’t change – we’ll try and win the next game, and that’s Aston Villa away.
“(It’s) a really tough draw – maybe not the draw we wanted – but it’s a competition we want to try and do well in. We enjoyed our run last year, we were disappointed to exit when we did, so the aim is to go as far as we can.”
On Tuesday’s victory at Spurs…
“It’s definitely helped the feeling and the mood around the training ground. That’s what winning does. It’s such an amazing thing – it can change the perspective of everyone.
“It was a big win for us but now we’ve got to try and back it up, and we’re searching for that consistency.”
Howay!
- Date: Saturday, Feb. 14th
- Kick-off: 17:45 BST / 12:45 EST
- Location: Villa Park, Birmingham (England)
For all your watching needs, check LiveSoccerTV.com.
