English FA CUP

2026-02-14 - Aston Villa vs Newcastle United

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Aston Villa v Newcastle United
Football: English FA Cup Fourth Round
Saturday 14th February 2025 - Kick Off 5:45pm
This game is live on TV

Aston Villa

A late own goal helped Aston Villa to a priceless win over Brighton in the Premier League in the same round of fixtures in which Manchester United and Chelsea dropped points. This just keeps Aston Villa in a decent position as they look to earn a return to the Champions League through the Premier League finish, although Unai Emery is also keen for his squad to keep fighting for silverware in the Europa League and FA Cup.

They are already through to the Europa League Last 16 to place alongside the 3rd place in the Premier League, but the focus on Saturday is the FA Cup. As a former seven time winner of the FA Cup, Aston Villa's recent history in the competition has been poor- they reached the Final in 2015, but had not been beyond the Fourth Round since then until last season when Aston Villa reached the Semi Final.

Aston Villa have lost 1 of the last 6 games in all competitions, but the win over Brighton feels important having suffered a home defeat to Brentford and drawn at Bournemouth prior to that result. They had also been beaten in consecutive home Premier League games before the 1-0 victory on Wednesday evening.

Matty Cash was missing with a knee issue last time out and is unlikely to be risked. You have to feel there will be some rotation to the starting eleven for this FA Cup tie, but midfield options are stretched and Unai Emery did select a strong team to win at Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Third Round.

Newcastle United

Three points were needed in the last round of Premier League fixtures, but it still feels a long shot for Eddie Howe to guide Newcastle United back into the Champions League through the Division. Instead the focus may be on the Cup competitions in the remainder of the campaign and Newcastle United have big games coming up in the FA Cup and Champions League.

The League Cup run was ended in the Semi Final earlier this month and so there is some pressure on the Newcastle United management and squad to prolong interest in the other Cup competitions. They are going to be big favourites in the Play Off Round of the Champions League, but this is a tough FA Cup tie for a Newcastle United team that needed Penalties to beat Bournemouth at home in the Third Round. Recent seasons have seen Newcastle United enjoy tremendous success in the League Cup, but they have been past the FA Cup Fifth Round once in the last 5 years.

Newcastle United had not won any of 5 games in all competitions and had lost 4 of those, including 3 in a row, before snapping that poor run in the 1-2 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday. That also ended a sequence of 4 away games without a victory during which time The Magpies had lost twice in a row at Liverpool and Manchester City.

Eddie Howe does have one eye on the Champions League tie coming up and that means the likes of Lewis Miley, Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes are unlikely to be risked. Lewis Hall will be pushing for a return having been dropped to the bench in the win at Spurs.

Head to Head

This is the third time Aston Villa and Newcastle United are playing one another this season.

They have completed the Premier League double with Aston Villa picking up four points and the majority were earned in the 0-2 win at St James' Park last month.

Aston Villa had won 5 of 6 home games against Newcastle United, but the fixture at Villa Park in August ended goalless.

Prediction

Two clubs who have owners with big ambitions will know the priority is to try and become a consistent feature of the Champions League.

That would open up so many financial options for both Aston Villa and Newcastle United, but it is the former who look like playing in the elite European competition next season rather than the latter.

Unai Emery and Eddie Howe will put those ambitions aside this weekend and both selected strong teams in the FA Cup Third Round.

Silverware is also very important in the development of a club and both Aston Villa and Newcastle United will be keen to progress in the FA Cup.

However, it is clear that Aston Villa have a 'better' scheduling spot with this game being played just before the squad have a few days of rest and recovery coming up. That may allow Emery to get his key players onto the field in a bid to reach the Fifth Round, while Eddie Howe is dealing with a number of injuries and also has another big Champions League game coming up in the week.

Being without Bruno Guimaraes would be a significant blow and the edge is with Aston Villa to find a way through to the next Round at odds against.