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You've only got six shopping days left until Christmas, but if you're still looking for the perfect gift for that Aston Villa fan in your life, write to Santa post-haste and ask for a win today against Newcastle. A few weeks ago this looked like the beginning of Villa's easier holiday stretch after the past two months of hell. But since the beginning of November, Newcastle have just gone ahead and taken three wins in their last five matches.
Nine points from fifteen doesn't sound like that much, but most Villa fans would love to have those nine points right about now. And the 1.8 points per match rate is nothing to sneeze at either. Apart from their recent good (decent?) form, Newcastle can lord over Villa the fact that they haven't lost to the claret and blues since 2011. So this isn't as easy as we had once hoped it would be.
But then again, what is this year?
You'll find everything you need to follow along live below. We say this every week lately, but if ever there was a time for a win, this would be it. Please, Villa. Win. Just. Gah.
Win.
Location: St James' Park, Newcastle, England
Preview Here
Kick-off time: 17:30 PM GMT, 12:30 PM Eastern, 9:30 AM Pacific
SB Nation OPPOSITION Blog: Coming Home Newcastle
Available TV: Sky Sports 1 (UK), NBC (US)
Available streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra (US), Sky GO & Now TV (UK
Available radio: BBC WM 95.6 FM (UK), AVTV (subscription required), Westwood One Sports (US)
For listings in other countries, check out LiveSoccerTV.com.
Aston Villa squad
Confirmed line-up: Here’s our #AVFC team to face #NUFC this afternoon, kick-off 5.30pm. #NEWAVL pic.twitter.com/8RAzfAUG2j
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) December 19, 2015
Newcastle squad
#NUFC XI vs #AVFC: Elliot, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Sissoko, Colback, Anita, Wijnaldum, De Jong, Cisse.
— BPLZone (@BPLZone) December 19, 2015