It’s Newcastle United vs Aston Villa this weekend, and pundit Paul Merson predicts Eddie Howe’s side to extend their unbeaten run.
The Magpies are currently fourth in the Premier League, and have only lost one of their opening 12 games. That was the controversial defeat to Liverpool.
Newcastle are enjoying a remarkable start to the campaign, and are currently on an unbeaten run of eight games. That run includes four victories, with back-to-back triumphs coming over Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. The latter is our best result of the season so far.
Howe’s side will be keen to make it a hat-trick of wins on Saturday when Aston Villa arrive at St James’ Park. And given Newcastle’s recent form and their home record under Howe, they will be very confident of taking all three points.
And that’s exactly what Merson thinks the Magpies will do.
Merson predicts Newcastle to win vs Aston Villa
As part of his column for Sportskeeda, Merson has predicted the result of every Premier League fixture this upcoming weekend.
While he believes Villa have made a good appointment in Unai Emery, he still anticipates a victory for the home side. Merson thinks Newcastle will win 3-1 on Saturday, and has explained why.
“If Aston Villa’s players turn up, this will be a good game,” he wrote.
“They turned it one against Brentford last week. Unai Emery will try to get them to be solid in his first game, but I don’t think he’ll have enough time.
“Emery’s a good appointment for Aston Villa. He’s worked in the Premier League before with a big football club, and he knows his opponents. He’s left a very good team in Villarreal – we saw that last year. If you want to win La Liga, you need to beat Villarreal – they’re one of those teams. This appointment is a big coup for Aston Villa.
“Newcastle are playing as well as anybody at the moment. They outplayed Tottenham last week, and they’ve been absolutely outstanding this season. Newcastle should be able to win this game.”
While Emery may try and get Aston Villa solid in his first game, that won’t happen this weekend. That’s because the Spaniard doesn’t officially start managing his new side until November 1st, so he won’t be in the dugout on Saturday.
Never mind, Paul…
Confident Newcastle
While he may have made a huge blunder with his Emery comments, Merson is right about Newcastle. We really have been outstanding so far this season, and are a match for anyone.
There is real confidence among the group at the moment, and that will only have increased further after Sunday’s 2-1 win away to Tottenham. Howe’s men were sensational, and fully deserved to beat a ‘big six’ team in their own back yard.
Now Newcastle are back at home, where they have been very good under Howe. Since he became manager, he’s only lost twice on home soil – and that was to Manchester City and Liverpool.
And even before Howe’s tenure, the Magpies have a strong recent home record against Villa. The last time Newcastle lost at St James’ Park to Aston Villa was April 2005.
We are unbeaten in 14 home games against Saturday’s opponents, and Merson believes that run will extend to 15.
Hopefully he’s right, with Newcastle putting another three points on the board at the expense of an Emery-less Villa.
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