Aston Villa travel north on Saturday looking for the first points of Tim Sherwood’s managerial reign as manager, and for their first league win of 2015.
Last weekend ended in great disappointment, as despite the fact we showed promising signs in the first half and initially took the lead through on loan winger Scott Sinclair, we ended up losing in the final moments of the game. Our out of sorts captain recklessly lunged into a unnecessary tackle and gave away a penalty which Stoke scored from. It was a real kick in the teeth, as we looked like claiming a much needed point.
But now we move onto Newcastle and a team who are seemingly coasting towards the end of the season under the guidance of former assistant manager John Carver. Under Carver’s stewardship so far in the Premier League they have won 1, drawn 3 and lost 3. Not great form many would say, but thanks to the points picked up under former manager Alan Pardew they sit comfortably at 11th place. Although, it is worth noting one key fact- Newcastle have only lost 3 out of 12 home league games this season (Manchester City, Sunderland and Southampton). Now, if you were not filled with optimism after that statistic, take a look at Villa’s dismal record at St James Park;
2013/2014- Newcastle 1-0 Villa
2012/2013- Newcastle 1-1 Villa
2011/2012- Newcastle 2-1 Villa
2010/2011- Newcastle 6-0 Villa
2008/2009- Newcastle 2-0 Villa
Last 5 visits- P5 W0 D1 L4 F-2 A-12
In fact, we have to go back to the infamous 2004-2005 match to remember the last time Villa managed to record a win against Newcastle at St James Park. A true bogey ground for us.
Moving onto team news. There are guaranteed to be changes from the Stoke match as the suspended Vlaar will probably be replaced by Okore. Richardson is out injuried, so he may be replaced with left-back Lewis Kinsella. The youngster’s tweets have hinted to a potential debut, as he noted “singing In front of the boys is the worst thing I have ever done”, which may be seen as an initiation of some sort.
Other than that Sherwood will have a free reign on who to pick apart from Kozak, Senderos and Hutton who is also a doubt for the trip up north. Guzan will most likely stay between the sticks, Lowton and Cissokho will probably deputise at full back. His decision last week to field a basic 4-4-2 wasn’t surprising given his preference to use such tactics at Spurs, but we were desperately overrun at times. It will be interesting to see how we line up today, do we go with a three in midfield with Westwood in the centre and Sinclair and Gil on the wings or does he stick with the same 4-4-2?
Whatever tactics Tim decides to go with, it’s clear to every Villa fan that this is a game we have got to try and win, as the list of winnable games gets ever shorter with the horrendous April fixtures looming large around the corner. He may have only just started, but it’s getting close to now or never for Sherwood to try and keep us in the Premier League. Can he get us scoring goals and most importantly can he get us winning games?





