HomeTeams - PLAston VillaNewcastle vs Aston Villa Preview | Stats, Team News & Key Men

Newcastle vs Aston Villa Preview | Stats, Team News & Key Men

Aston Villa head to St.James’ Park on Sunday to face a Newcastle side that have failed to score in their last 4 Premier League games.

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Newcastle have been in poor form recently losing 4 and winning just 1 of their last 6 Premier League games and have conceded 10 goals in their last 3 matches. The fans will be hoping for a major improvement this weekend and finally start hitting the back of the net, with Newcastle failing to score in 7 of their last 8 Premier League games.

Aston Villa go into game in 12th place, 9 points behind Newcastle and 4 points clear of the relegation zone, with Villa’s away form being better than their home form this season. Villa have taken 6 more points, scored 3 more goals and conceded 6 fewer goals in their 13 away games this season than they have in their 13 games at Villa Park.

Newcastle are unbeaten in their last 5 games with Aston Villa, while Villa have not won at St.James’ park since 2005 when Steven Taylor, Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer were all sent off.

Team News

Loic Remy returns after serving his 3 match ban, while Fabricio Coloccini and Cheick Tiote are also both back in the squad.

Charles N’Zogbia, Jores Okore and Libor Kozak all miss out for Villa, while Karim El Ahmadi and Andreas Weimann are both pushing for recalls.

Interesting Statistics

  • Only Luis Suarez (35%) has scored a higher percentage of his sides goals than Loic Remy (34%) this season.
  • Aston Villa have taken 6 more points away from home (17) than they have at home (11) this season.
  • Christian Benteke has scored the most headed goals in the Premier League this season (4).
  • Newcastle have failed to score in 7 of their last 8 Premier League games.
  • No English player has scored for Newcastle in their last 45 Premier League games.

Key Men

Moussa Sissoko

Sissoko's creativity stats this season
Sissoko’s creativity stats this season

Moussa Sissoko has been one of Newcastle’s stand out players this season and is the only outfield player to start all 26 of their matches so far.

The Frenchman has found himself playing wide on the right for most of the season, but may return to centre midfield alongside the returning Cheik Tiote after the departure of Yohan Cabaye.

Sissoko has been Newcastle’s most creative player this season, creating 60 chances at a rate of a chance every 37 minutes. He has created 35 more chances than any current Newcastle player and also has 5 assists, 2 more than any other Newcastle player and created 4 clear cut chances.

He has also made more dribble attempts than any other Newcastle player (107), being successful with 50% of them and has also found a teammate with an impressive 30% of his 56 crosses.

Christian Benteke

Benteke's attacking stats this season
Benteke’s attacking stats this season

Christian Benteke hasn’t quite reached the same levels as he did last season, but is still Villa’s top goalscorer in the Premier League this season with 7 goals.

The Belgian has hit the target with 52% of his shots this season, which is 7% less than last season and has converted 17% of his chances, which is again 9% down on last season. His clear cut chance conversion is also down by 19% compared to last season, while he is scoring every 249 minutes this season, compared to last season when he scored every 149 minutes.

Benteke has created 40 chances so far this season, at a rate of a chance every 42 minutes – which is 11 minutes more often than he was last season. He has also created 4 clear cut chances, which is a clear cut chance every 422 minutes and has got 2 assists so far this season.

The Belgian has created more chances from open play (37) than any of his teammates this season.

Prediction

Newcastle 1-1 Aston Villa

James Amey
James Amey
Head of the writers here on EPLIndex! Can also be found on Twitter - @jamesamey316
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