Aston Villa vs Newcastle Prediction: Magpies to make a statement

We’ve got an epic clash from the Premier League coming our way on Saturday afternoon as Aston Villa host Newcastle United at Villa Park (17:30, Sky Sports Main Event). Villa must be feeling drained from their comeback against PSG on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough as they crashed out of the Uefa Champions League on aggregate. 

Meanwhile, Newcastle hammered Crystal Palace 5-0 in midweek and will hope to continue their push for the Champions League places. Below you can find my Aston Villa vs Newcastle predictions featuring team news and betting selections. 

Football Odds

Team News

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery may choose to rotate his side after that brutal Champions League tie. Marcus Rashford started up front again but could be replaced by Ollie Watkins, while Marco Asensio and Ian Maatsen will also hope for starts. 

There was a positive on Wednesday as Ross Barkley played a couple of minutes off the bench, and he could get his first Premier League minutes since January 4 - although he is unlikely to start. Boubacar Kamara may drop out of the team to allow Youri Tielemans to play a deeper role in midfield, and a more attacking option such as Asensio to come into the XI.

Jason Tindall looks set to continue on the touchline for Newcastle with Eddie Howe suffering from pneumonia, and he’s done pretty well so far, winning two from two and seeing his side score nine in the process. 

It’s difficult to envisage any changes from the Magpies after they spanked Crystal Palace 5-0 on Wednesday night, with Harvey Barnes, Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy flourishing as the front three. They all found the net so that means Anthony Gordon will have to settle for a place on the bench once again, alongside Joe Willock and Callum Wilson. 

The rest of the team picks itself right now - and the Geordies are flying! 

Aston Villa vs Newcastle Odds

Aston Villa are priced as the 6/4 favourites to win this game, giving them an implied win probability of 40% for this fixture at Villa Park. Meanwhile, Newcastle can be backed at 9/5 to continue their good form with maximum points, and a draw is 13/5.

Isak is unsurprisingly the favourite to open the scoring at 4/1 having scored 21 goals in 29 Premier League matches. If you fancy a lot of goals, over 2.5 is 8/13 and BTTS is 8/15. 

Newcastle to win @ 9/5

I love this selection. I was surprised to see the Magpies priced up as outsiders and although I appreciate Villa are a force to be reckoned with, we have to take into context the impact of that Champions League exit.

Although they have plenty to play for in the Premier League - that felt like such a momentous occasion and even though they won on the night, the wind will surely have been taken out of their sails. Emery was left frustrated by the lack of ball-in-play time in the second half, while the players had to put in their all to make a game of it from 2-0 down. 

Meanwhile, Newcastle barely got out of second gear as they put five past Palace, and they were able to make five subs during the second 45. They should be far fresher, and more focused to win this game. Remarkably that would be their seventh win in a row in all competitions and the Carabao Cup win has actually given them confidence to kick on, rather than been a distraction. They have what it takes to go and win at Villa Park, something that only Arsenal have managed in the league in 2024/25 - way back in August. 

Newcastle to score over 2.5 goals @ 7/2

Newcastle are in an intriguing goalscoring run right now, and they are just getting better and better. Since they failed to score against Liverpool at Anfield, their goals scored column in the Premier League has read one, two, three, four and then five. 

Now I’m not saying they will go to Villa Park and score six, but their recent form in front of goal has been spectacular and I want to side with them hitting three in this away game. I think we are getting great odds on them doing that against a Villa outfit that I’m expecting to be slightly below-par on Saturday afternoon. 

Offers

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