In arguably the biggest game of the Championship season so far, Aston Villa welcome Newcastle United to Villa Park.
A match that would’ve been a Premier League fixture more often than not, Villa are arguably more desperate for the win than the visitors due to their indifferent position in the league table.
Villa sit in 18th with just one win to their name but it’s Newcastle that have tasted defeat more often than their counter parts. While the Villains have been struggling to secure all three points, a five-match winning streak for the Toon army in the league came to an end last weekend.
With over £150m worth of talent on display this weekend, this match has the potential to be a headline-maker.
Here are 5 reasons why Aston Villa can beat Newcastle at Villa park tomorrow.
Albert Adomah may start
Silky skilled summer signing Albert Adomah has been labelled as ‘likely to start’ in tomorrow’s heated clash at Villa Park. I know he can not win the game himself but his presence on the pitch is a great advantage to us knowing that a player of his quality is ready to make his home debut in such a big game.
He has experience of the competitiveness of the league having spent time at Middlesborough and Bristol City, especially playing a big role in Middlesborough’s promotion last season. Adomah will hopefully be able to bring the best out of Jordan Ayew after struggling to get off the mark.
Home advantage
Despite not really winning many games, we haven’t lost at home this season. The immense encouragement from the stands will motivate the players to want to win this game even more. Home support will improve our game more than being at St James’ Park being booed for a full 90 minutes which will only bring down the mentality of the players
Newcastle's inconsistencies
Newcastle have been a very good force this season. They are currently sitting 3rd in the league with 15 points. Scoring 16 and only conceding 6. Showing their dominance in front of goal scoring 6 goals against QPR on the 13th.
But their inconsistency was presented 4 days later on the 17th when they lost 2-0 to Wolves. Newcastle then demonstrated they don’t dwell on bad results when they went on and beat wolves 2-0 three days later. Meaning this game could go either way.
Jonathan Kodjia's on fire
Probably our best striker in the squad, Kodjia’s speed, skill and incredible shooting (as we saw from the Brentford game) shows us Villa fans that he could easily tear up Newcastle’s defence.
With Adomah likely to be ready for the game tomorrow, his service could assist Kodjia. Even though he did not score, Kodjia’s presence in the air was displayed in the game versus Nottingham Forest when his two headers were stopped on the line by Vladimir Stojkovic.
Anything can happen
In the Championship, the results are sometimes unpredictable. Evidence of this is Birmingham City’s current position in the league. No matter how poor you can be in a game, with a little momentum you can still come out the match with a victory.