After a sticky last few games, we come to face Aston Villa at home which is a game we should be targeting to win. We played poorly against Blackburn but got the three points which was all that matters.

They have had an average season to now, being knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal after leading 2-0 was a blow to them, similar to the one we received at Fulham. Their fans are not happy with Alex McLeish, so surely this tells us something about their style of play.

A win against Villa would take us joint on points with Chelsea. Who would have thought that at the start of the year? It is also refreshing to hear Pardew talking about the fourth position. It’s unlikely we will finish there but at least we are thinking about it.

Newcastle Team News

Newcastle have the double boost of Papiss Demba Cisse and Demba Ba being back for the match following Senegal’s poor African Cup Of Nations in which neither of our forwards scored in. They both trained today.

Yohan Cabaye is banned for the game following his violent conduct charge, so this could give the opportunity for Mehdi Abeid and Dan Gosling to step up.

Gabriel Obertan is also back in contention after his goal against Blackburn, he should still be used as an impact sub though. Newcastle don’t have any fresh injury problems going into the game.

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Players - In

Players - Out

For what seems like the billionth time this season, The Toon Army take on Blackburn Rovers. Pardew will be looking to get his team back to winning ways after the cup slip up to Brighton which left many fans disgruntled, some rightfully so.

Form and Previous Meetings

Meetings this season between the two clubs have been quite close with the lads edging both home games and only just loosing the away F.A Cup game which should give confidence to the squad. The lads will want to bounce back themselves, the collapse against Fulham will be a tough reminder to the side that we need to stay solid and work as a unit, so I expect a well drilled spirited Newcastle to stop the rot.

Since there FA Cup exit to our hands Blackburn have gained 4 points from the two games scoring in both so they are going to be up for the battle at Ewood Park. There is still the saga around Samba though, the man clearly wants to leave and is not able to, as it keeps going on its more and more likely to have an effect on the pitch.

Latest Team News

Tiote is still on African cup of nation duty and we will still be without the long term injured S Taylor and Marveaux and short term doubt Sammy Ameobi. Colocinni missed out on the Brighton match but will hopefully return back to the defence, not that I am devaluing Perch’s performance against Brighton, just that seeing the Captain return could be a real boost to the side.

The main question we should ask here is; should Pardew play our youngsters to give them first team experience? Vuckic, Ferguson, Abeid and Sammy Ameobi all deserve to be given first team chances, but we all crave our FA cup run and an end to our lack of silverware.

The FA cup has always held a special place in our hearts since we reached the final in ’98 and ‘99, and lost to the champions, on both occasions. We all desperately crave another Wembley trip and we all know, that this could be our year.

So far, Brighton have had to overcome Wrexham, in the previous round, who were a potential banana skin. Wrexham worked hard at the Amex Stadium and took it to a replay at the Racecourse Ground, which Brighton nicked on penalties.

Newcastle played Blackburn at home and had to come from 1 goal down and won with a spectacular goal from Hatem Ben Arfa and an impudent chip from Jonas Gutierrez.

This year, Brighton also overcame Sunderland in the Carling Cup. Brighton will be looking to perform another scalp of another North East Premier League team. Whereas Newcastle will be needing to dig their heels in against the Championship side, who have only lost on 3 occasions at home this year.