Kick-off: 1800, 24/06/2020
Stadium: St James’ Park
TV: BT Sport
Newcastle have the chance to break through the 40-point mark with seven games to go if they can beat struggling Aston Villa at St James’ Park.
Steve Bruce has defied his critics this season and the Magpies have a realistic hope of a top-half finish heading into the clash with his former club.
Villa are languishing in the relegation zone, though, and a home win at 13/10 is our opening Newcastle vs Aston Villa prediction.
A Look At Newcastle United’s Betting Odds
Bruce was not a popular appointment when he took over as Newcastle manager but has quietly done an impressive job on Tyneside and that continued with Sunday’s 3-0 win against European hopefuls Sheffield United.
Allan Saint-Maximin opened the scoring shortly after the Blades had defender John Egan sent off.
Matt Ritchie eased the Magpies further ahead with a 70th-minute piledriver before Joelinton, who had earlier squandered a one-on-one opportunity, confidently turned Miguel Almiron’s cross past keeper Dean Henderson.
Saint-Maximin told nufc TV: “It’s really important to keep going because we know if we win a lot of games we can maybe look forwards. That’s what we are doing.
“Now we have 38 points and we play the next game against Aston Villa and we know if we do everything and we win this game, it could be 41 points and that would be great for everyone.”
Newcastle often take their time to get going and they have won six home games after drawing at half-time – the highest in the Premier League.
We like the look of 9/2 in the Newcastle vs Aston Villa odds for the home side to come good after the break again.
Last Newcastle line-up: Dubravka, Lascelles, Fernandez, Manquillo, Rose, Shelvey, Ritchie, Hayden, Almiron, Joelinton, Saint-Maximin.
A Look At Aston Villa’s Betting Odds
Villa are second bottom and without a win in any competition since January, after the enforced break due to the coronavirus crisis.
Manager Dean Smith was pleased with their performance in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea at least, and feels Villa are a different team than before the shutdown.
He said: “We came out of the last two games before we paused against Southampton and Leicester having conceded a host of chances and looked easier to play against.
“Now I thought we looked difficult to play against and Frank (Lampard) said that. They have a quality team, outside Liverpool and Man City they are as good as anyone we have played.
“We are in a better place, certainly defensively, than when the season paused.”
That may be the case but Newcastle are good at grinding out wins, with half of their 10 league victories this season having been 1-0.
The same result can be backed at 7/1 and that looks good value as our final Newcastle vs Aston Villa prediction.
Last Aston Villa line-up: Nyland, Hause, Konsa, Targett, Mings, Hourihane, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Grealish, Davis, El Ghazi.
Additional stats
Last result:
NEWCASTLE 3-0 Sheff Utd – Allan Saint-Maximin, Matt Ritchie, Joelinton
ASTON VILLA 1-2 Chelsea – Kortney Hause
Head-to-head: Villa 2-0 Newcastle, Newcastle 2-0 Villa, Villa 1-1 Newcastle, Villa 0-0 Newcastle, Newcastle 1-1 Villa
Join bwin today and receive up to £10 money back as a FreeBet if your first wager at odds of 1/1 (2.0) or greater is a loser! Terms and conditions apply.
