Predicted Newcastle XI vs Aston Villa: Bruce to make two changes, 23-yr-old to return – originally posted on Sportslens.com
Newcastle United host Aston Villa in the Premier League later tonight and the Magpies will be looking to bounce back from their poor run a form with a win at home.
The home side have failed to win five of their last six League matches and Steve Bruce will be under pressure to pick up all three points here.
Newcastle are currently 16th in the Premier League table just one point above the drop zone and they cannot afford to keep dropping points.
The Magpies have an exceptional home record against Aston Villa in recent seasons and they are undefeated in their last twelve matches against the West Midlands club at home.
However, they are in very poor form right now and the last time these two sides met Villa picked up a 2-0 win at home.
The home side have quite a few injury issues to deal with and Bruce will be without the services of Allan Saint-Maximin, Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson and Fabian Schar.
Bruce is likely to make two changes to the side that was held to a goalless draw against West Brom in the last game.
Jeff Hendrick was quite poor for the Magpies and he is expected to be dropped in favour of 23-year-old Sean Longstaff. Federico Fernandez should return in place of Emil Krafth.
Predicted Newcastle starting line-up: Dubravka, Fernandez, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Hayden, Shelvey, Longstaff, Willock, Joelinton, Fraser