Newcastle are back on the road today, taking on Aston Villa in the FA Cup following our Tuesday night win at Tottenham in the Premier League.
It’s another top-flight side standing in our way, with Unai Emery’s third-place side our next test after we beat Bournemouth on penalties in the third round last month.
BBC pundit Chris Sutton has been looking ahead to the game in his latest prediction piece, explaining why he’s backing the hosts to come through this one, as they did in last month’s 2-0 win at St James’ Park.
Sutton also revealed his bemusement at BBC Radio 606 calls from Newcastle fans asking for Howe to be sacked before our win at Spurs, sharing his delight at our manager quietening some of the noise with that pivotal midweek victory.
Here’s what he had to say, warning that this high-flying Villa side will pose a far tougher test than that awful Tottenham team could on Tuesday.
“I was delighted for Newcastle boss Eddie Howe that his team beat Tottenham and also the reception he got from his side’s fans afterwards.
“For everything he has done for them, the world must have gone bonkers for their fans to be calling up 606 and saying they wanted him out.
“This will be a very different test to playing Spurs, however, and I am going with my gut feeling on this one.
“The two sides met recently when Villa won at St James’ Park at the end of January and although Villa have slipped up a couple of times at home recently, when it clicks for them, they usually end up winning.”
Sutton’s prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Newcastle
Although Villa did come away from St James’ 2-0 winners last month, we’ll be looking to put things right after failing to make our chances count on that opening day 0-0 draw way back in August.
Personally, I think we’ll give a good account of ourselves, switch back to a similar system that saw us cause PSG problems and end the 90 minutes all square. After that, however, it will all come down to fitness, fatigue and who wants it more!
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