There are many football kick off times I like. I like the early match on a Saturday, I quote like Monday night football. I really like the Tuesday and Wednesday matches. I don't like the idea of a match outside of the country and Christmas football is probably my favourite.
But I don't like Newcastle. I don't have fond memories of Newcastle and they're on a little run, having won the last two and if memory serves me correctly and I'm going to go check when I finish this sentence, they've scored a few too.
They have scored a few. That doesn't mean it's going to happen again today but I have a memory of last season and it wasn't nice. And everyone thought after that we were going to struggle. [Not Sir Alex Ferguson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YncI_sM6F3w), but there is a reason why he was so good. And everyone thought Newcastle were going to be challenging, but they finished seventh and I suspect that is as far as they are going to get now.
And I'll get into trouble for that, but there is something about Newcastle that doesn't make sense when thinking about a side competing at the top end of the table. But they can when they want to score a few goals and that makes me a little nervous going into this match.
_If_ I were a betting man, I'd not have a bet on this match today. There is something about Newcastle and I can't quite put my finger on it.
Match facts from the BBC
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**Head-to-head**
* Newcastle are unbeaten in 15 Premier League home matches against Aston Villa since a 3-0 loss in April 2005 (W9, D6) - it's their longest streak in the division against one opponent at St James' Park. They've won the last three in a row by an aggregate score of 10-1.
* Aston Villa could suffer a third straight Premier League defeat in this fixture, home and away, for the first time since February 2014.
**Newcastle United**
* Newcastle have won back-to-back Premier League games by a four-goal margin for only the third time, having previously done so in August 1994 and September 1998.
* They have never earned three consecutive league victories by a margin of four goals or more.
* Successive league wins is as many as they managed in their previous 11 matches.
* The Magpies have lost their past three Boxing Day home fixtures, the longest such streak in the club's history.
* Newcastle's total of 16 Premier League defeats on Boxing Day is a competition record, with Aston Villa next on 15 losses.
* Alexander Isak has scored 23 Premier League goals in 2024, behind only Erling Haaland's 26 and Cole Palmer's 25. The only Newcastle players to score more than Isak in a calendar year are Alan Shearer, with 27 goals in 2002, and Andrew Cole, who netted 24 times in 1994.
* Jacob Murphy has three goals and three assists in his past three league appearances.
* Harvey Barnes has six goals in nine Premier League matches versus Aston Villa. He has never scored seven times against another club in the division.
**Aston Villa**
* Villa's current run of four successive Premier League away defeats is their joint longest since returning to the top flight in 2019. They previously lost four in a row in 2022 under Steven Gerrard and haven't fared worse since a seven-match losing streak between February and May 2016.
* Unai Emery's side have averaged 1.54 points per league game this calendar year, compared to 2.02 points in 2023.
* Aston Villa have suffered three straight Boxing Day defeats, conceding three goals each time. They've only once lost four times in a row on 26 December, between 1932 and 1935.
* Their only Premier League away win in 12 attempts on Boxing Day was 2-0 at Derby County in 1999 (D4, L7).
* Jhon Duran has scored in four successive appearances and in all six competitive starts for Villa this season. His record of a goal every 80 minutes is the best in the current Premier League campaign.