Newcastle v Aston Villa 4th Feb 12

Newcastle v Aston Villa 

Fifth placed Newcastle United are at home to 12^th placed Aston Villa with some 11 points separating the two teams 

Newcastle are just three points behind Chelsea and a Champions League place whilst Villa know a win will see them move into the top half of the table 

Villa are the draw specialists with 10 draws this season, the most in the PL and four more than Newcastle 

Newcastle are seventh in the home league table with 21 points out of a possible 33 from six wins and three draws to go with just two defeats 

Villa have the eighth best away record in the PL with 15 points out of 31 from three wins and six draws and just two defeats and have collected more points on their travels than at Villa Park

Villa have used nine players 30 or over, which is the fourth most in the PL and six more than Newcastle 

Newcastle’s Demba Ba is second leading goal scorer in the PL on 15 goals, four behind leader Robin van Persie

For Villa Darren Bent leads the way with nine goals and is one short of a 100 PL goals 

Newcastle have the worse record of the two for conceding late goals with seven in the last 10 minutes, four more than Villa in this time period

Villa though have the worst record of the two for conceding in the opening 15 minutes with five goals compared to just one for Newcastle 

Newcastle have only failed to score in four of their 23 matches this season four fewer than Villa 

Villa have only conceded more than two goals once this season compared to six times by Newcastle 

Newcastle have two ever presents this season, Tim Krul and Danny Simpson

Leon Best has been replaced in 13 of his 15 starts this season in the PL 

Villa have just one ever present in defender Richard Dunne who has started all 23 PL matches, one more than Stephen Warnock

Villa have used players from 12 different countries, England lead the way with 13 players six more than the Republic of Ireland 

Newcastle have also used players from 12 different countries, England again lead the way with 14 with France next on the list with five 

Newcastle’s total of 34 goals includes four own goals whilst Villa have yet to benefit from an own goal yet this season 

Attacking Stats

Defending Stats

Fixture History 

Earlier in the season the two drew 1-1 at Villa Park 

Last season in the fixture Newcastle were 6-0 winners with Andy Carroll notching a hat trick 

Newcastle are unbeaten in their last five at home against Villa since losing3-0 back in April 2005 

Newcastle have dominated matches between the two at St James’s Park with a 11/2 record and four matches drawn 

Newcastle have only failed to score at home against Villa three times in 17 matches   

Villa have failed to score on seven visitors to St James’s Park including their last three trips there   

Darren Bent has four goals against Newcastle in the PL in 11 matches but only one has come at St James’s Park in four matches 

1-0 is the most popular score in this fixture happening nine times

Check all the matches between the two in the PL