FUTBOL BEST

Newcastle on Sunday will aim to continue their pursuit of the UEFA Champions League in a positive fashion when they host Aston Villa.

The St James' Park fixture provides a yardstick for the two clubs by representing the impressive development of the home side and, in contrast, the away team's regression.
Newcastle were infamously relegated to the Championship in 2008/09, but, firstly under Chris Hughton and now Alan Pardew, they have made impressive progress.
The fifth-placed Magpies are a part of what looks like a four-way fight for fourth spot in the Premier League along with Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Villa, meanwhile, have gone backwards having previously been regular challengers for Champions League qualification during Martin O'Neill's reign.

Inspiration

The Midlanders finished sixth in three successive seasons from 2007/08, but, since O'Neill left at the beginning of last season to be succeeded on a short-term basis by Gerard Houllier before the arrival of Alex McLeish in the summer of 2011, they have slipped downwards

Ahead of this weekend's lunchtime kick-off against Newcastle, Villa find themselves in the bottom half of the Premier League and they will arrive at St James' Park with haunting memories of last season's 6-0 thrashing on Tyneside.
Villa, though, are better on their travels this campaign and have lost just two of their last 12 league away games, while they will also look for inspiration from Darren Bent, who has scored in four of his last five appearances and now has 100 Premier League goals.
Senegal strikers Demba Ba and Papiss Demba Cisse are included in the Newcastle squad.
Fifteen-goal Ba and new signing Cisse are available following their country's premature departure from the Africa Cup of Nations, with the latter in line for a debut following his big-money January move from Freiburg.

Major doubt

Midfielder Yohan Cabaye serves the second game of his three-match suspension after being found guilty of violent conduct, while defender Steven Taylor (Achilles) and midfielders Sylvain Marveaux (groin) and Sammy Ameobi (knee) continue their respective recoveries.
Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor is a major fitness doubt with back and hamstring spasms.
Agbonlahor is to undergo a special fitness programme with the club's conditioning coach, Adrian Lamb, to try and eradicate such problems after missing the midweek home draw with QPR.


Winger Marc Albrighton (thigh) and central defender James Collins are also battling to be fit while midfielder Chris Herd continues to recover from an ankle injury.

Possible starting XIs:

Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Santon, Ben Arfa, Guthrie, R.Taylor, Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Ba.
Villa: Given, Hutton, Cuellar, Dunne, Warnock, Ireland, Petrov, Clark, N'Zogbia, Keane, Bent.


via sky sport