Newcastle United vs Aston Villa

One of the standout fixtures on Premier League Boxing Day pits Newcastle United and Aston Villa against each other at St James’ Park.

Newcastle United celebrated Christmas in a buoyant mood after posting back-to-back 4-0 Premier League wins on either side of a 3-1 triumph against Brentford to reach the EFL Cup semi-finals. Fresh off stringing together consecutive top-flight wins via a four-goal margin for the first time since 1998, the Magpies return to St James’ Park, where they haven’t lost to upcoming rivals Aston Villa since 2003 (W10, D6), including a thumping 5-1 victory in this corresponding fixture in 2023/24. However, there’s no room for complacency in Eddie Howe’s camp, considering his men have lost three of their last four top-flight Boxing Day outings on home turf (W1). Against this backdrop, Howe’s men head into this meeting amid a three-game unbeaten home run (W2, D1), netting 3+ goals in each contest!

In the meantime, Aston Villa became the latest team to take advantage of Manchester City’s noticeable fall from grace, beating the reigning champions 2-1 last weekend to erase the memory of an identical loss to Nottingham Forest on their most recent league travel. Unai Emery’s charges are seemingly back on track following a scandalous eight-game winless run in all competitions (D3, L5), racking up four wins across their last five competitive matches (L1). However, their recent away form has been disappointing as they’ve slumped to five defeats on their previous six road trips (W1), failing to score more than once in each loss. Moreover, Villa’s ongoing four-game losing away streak in the Premier League is their worst run since closing the 2015/16 campaign with seven straight league defeats outside Villa Park.