Making any firm predictions of what the next nine months might hold after Saturday’s 0-0 draw with the Magpies is therefore a fool’s errand.
Suffice to say, things will surely get better and certainly more interesting.
Rarely since Unai Emery first walked through the doors of Villa Park in November 2022 have supporters been so thoroughly unentertained.
This was just the sixth goal-less draw of the Spaniard’s reign (only the third in the Premier League) and the kind of encounter which will have had executives at TNT Sports, who have fewer live matches to broadcast this year, wishing they’d gone to Sunderland instead.
A fixture which typically guarantees a flood of goals witnessed just six shots on target through 90 minutes, the most crucial of which came right at the start.
Magpies debutant Anthony Elanga raced through on goal, Villa debutant Marco Bizot saved. When Bizot also kept out a low drive from Anthony Gordon a short time later, it would be the last time either goalkeeper was forced into any serious exertion. Villa didn’t conjure an attempt on goal, of any fashion, in the first half.