Newcastle v Aston Villa preview: Make or break time in Villa’s fight to survive

Failure to beat either Newcastle tonight or Wolves on Saturday would leave Dean Smith’s team facing an at best uphill battle to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.

A return of just one point from their first two matches back actually saw Villa edge a little closer to safety, yet they cannot rely on their rivals in the relegation scrap to remain static forever and the road ahead is about to get tougher.

The weekend visit of sixth-placed Wolves is followed by a trip to champions-elect Liverpool and a home date with Manchester United. After that, there will only be four matches remaining. Smith, in contrast to an increasingly agitated fanbase, remains relaxed but while the boss dismissed the notion of tonight’s match being ‘must-win’, beneath the calm demeanour he will surely know the clock is ticking.

“If we need to win the last game of the season, then that’s must-win,” said Smith. “At the moment, it’s being hard to beat, showing personality on the ball and being clinical.

“There’s six teams in and around it at the moment. We’re one of the teams trying to get out of it. It certainly could (go to the last day) but I’d like to be out of it before then. We’ve got to go and win some games to do that.”

Supporter nerves aren’t likely to be lessened by taking into account their team’s recent record on Tyneside or the identity of the man in the home dugout.

Villa have won just one of their last 17 visits to St James’s Park, while one suspects Steve Bruce would take some pleasure in giving his former club another nudge toward the trapdoor.

It is still less than two years since Bruce was trying to engineer Villa’s return to the top flight. An unpopular choice among fans when he took charge of the Magpies last summer, he has nevertheless guided his hometown club to safety in a season which began with many tipping them for the drop.

“I think whenever you play against one of your former teams – whether it’s me going to Brentford or not – there’s always that extra edge there,” said Smith.

“I’m sure Steve would take great pleasure in beating Villa.

“Number one, because he’s manager of Newcastle and he wants to. That will be his biggest driving force. But number two, because he used to be manager here.

“He’s done really well. He’s an experienced manager with a great know-how and great experience.

“I have a great deal of respect for him and Stephen Clemence and the jobs they’ve done wherever they’ve been. This will be a tough game for us.”

Tonight’s match is Villa’s first away trip since the league’s restart and the team flew to Newcastle last night following an afternoon training session at Bodymoor Heath.

There they will return for recovery work immediately after the final whistle with a tight turnaround of just 48 hours to prepare for Wolves.

“I’ve said to all of the players it’s going to be a squad game,” said Smith. “We were fortunate to keep an unchanged squad from the Sheffield United game.

“We are doing everything right in terms of recovery and getting ready for the next game. I think the training sessions will let us know where we are really at.”

Danny Drinkwater and Frederic Guilbert could feature for the first time since the restart. Bjorn Engels remains out with an Achilles problem.