ASTON VILLA vs NEWCASTLE - MATCH PREVIEW

By Ryan Ghee
February 10 2006

Aston Villa will host managerless Newcastle United at Villa Park tomorrow as both teams hope to resurrect hopes of a top-six finish. Villa will be hoping to make it five games without defeat while the Magpies will be looking to make it two wins out of two for caretaker manager Glenn Roeder.

Aston Villa team news: David O'Leary will not be able to pick James Milner for tomorrow's match due to the terms in his loan deal. Gavin McCann will be missing through suspension so young midfielder Craig Gardner looks set to make his first Premiership start. Baros, Phillips, Angel and Moore are all fighting it out for the two places in attack.

Newcastle team news: Glenn Roeder could hand Kieran Dyer his first start since returning from injury but Craig Moore has failed to recover in time. Michael Owen, Steven Taylor and Stephen Carr all remain sidelined.

History of this fixture: Villa have played Newcastle 142 times with the Villans winning 51, the Magpies winning 61, and the remaining 30 games ending all square. When the two teams met earlier in the season, the match ended all square with Gareth Barry blasting a last minute penalty over the bar to deny Villa all three points.