Alistair Magowan
BBC Sport at Villa Park

With Dean Smith sat in the stands after praising the officials' circus skills in the midweek defeat by Manchester City, it looks like assistant head coach John Terry will take a leading role on the touchline.

The former Chelsea and England captain was also Villa skipper while Steve Bruce was at Villa Park and the pair have just enjoyed a long chat before doing their pre-match interviews.

Wonder if the future destination of Rafael Benitez came up in conversation now the former Newcastle and Chelsea boss has left Chinese side Dalian Professional?

Having lost just one of his first eight Premier League away games against Aston Villa between 2003 and 2011 (W4 D3), Newcastle manager Steve Bruce has lost each of his last three at Villa Park (twice with Hull, once with Newcastle).

It's definitely a good talking point. Parking Callum Wilson on the left wing won't help matters - though we shall see where he is actually starting. Our line-up graphic has changed from a 4-5-1 to a 5-4-1 now with Isaac Hayden as a third centre-back...

Robeya: Us NUFC fans don't want champions league. We just look at Wolves, Leeds, even Fulham, Villa, playing good football, getting hammered every so often, but always entertaining. Most of us just want a bit of that. Is it really too much to ask?

On the flip side, what an excellent turnaround at Villa Park. Villa 'just' stayed up last season but have made some good additions and are largely excellent to watch.

Win tonight and they would go above Chelsea and still have a game in hand. They are yet to win in 2021, mind.

In the end, no fanbase will settle for what they perceive to be negative football. And I don't think it's too much of a stretch to suggest that Newcastle should always be looking to do better than 'just' stay up.

Newcastle United

Newcastle are winless in seven Premier League games (D2 L5), losing their last three in a row. The Magpies haven’t lost four consecutive Premier League games since May 2018.

Newcastle United

Newcastle striker Andy Carroll scored his first ever senior career hat-trick against Aston Villa in his first appearance against the Villans back in August 2010, in a 6-0 victory for Newcastle. However, he’s failed to score in any of his subsequent six league games against them.

He starts tonight.

City escape a huge upset - follow the reaction to that one over here if you wish.

Alistair Magowan
BBC Sport at Villa Park

Steve Bruce returns to his old stomping ground, and by his own admission on Friday there have been a few, where shortly before he was sacked by Villa in 2018, he had a cabbage thrown at him by a disgruntled supporter.

His reputation among Newcastle fans is not much better after a nine-game winless run, and demands for more attacking football.

The Magpies boss did switch to a back four against Arsenal last Monday as Bruce sought a more positive approach, even if it ended with a 3-0 defeat, but it looks like he's stuck with a four-man defence tonight.

Maybe Allan Saint-Maximin can conjure up some magic from the bench?

Would Mark Hughes say that if he took the job?

Mark Hughes
Former Wales manager on BBC Football Focus

The role at Newcastle is a unique role - the expectation is way above where it needs to be relative to the amount of success in terms of major trophies, they haven't won anything for a long time. But that doesn't lower the expectation of the fans. Steve Bruce knows that - he's a local lad and it's a huge job for him and he'll want to make a success of that but I think sometimes the expectation at Newcastle over runs their potential and that's what Steve is struggling with at the moment.

Do you make them nice and solid and not concede? That lessens your opportunites to score at the other end. The criticism of Newcastle at the moment is that they're a bit negative but they seemed to be the other way against Arsenal and that didn't quite work so I hope Steve can find a balance between the two.

This is how you get an eight grand fine - even if he did have a point.

That's very much the mood we need at the start of this graveyard shift Dan.