Tim Sherwood will look kick-start his tenure at a struggling Aston Villa when they travel to face Newcastle United on Saturday.
Life in the Midlands didn’t get off to greatest of starts for former Tottenham man Sherwood when they lost 2-1 to Stoke City at Villa Park, it has been the story of Villa’s so far with that defeat at the weekend being their SIXTH in a row and have now gone 11 games without a win. Sherwood is in desperate need of goals with so little amount of games left to play but they have proved hard to come by at Villa scoring just THREE league goals in the past 11 games.
2015 has not been kind to Newcastle United - only winning the one match since caretaker John Carver stepped up into the top job after Alan Pardew departed for Crystal Palace. It reached a new low last weekend with an embarrassing 5-0 drubbing at the Etihad by the current defending champions Manchester City; luckily for the Tyneside club their former manager's great form has kept them in 11th place but Carver will have a point to prove he is looking to keep the job on a permanent basis.
Kieran Richardson will not be available for the trip to St James’ Park as he was forced off in the first-half in last weekend’s defeat, Alan Hutton and Aly Cissokho are also doubts. A big blow is in the centre of defence with captain Ron Vlaar suspended with Jores Okore expected to come in to partner Ciaran Clark.
One name put in the squad which will put smiles on faces of Newcastle United fans is one Jonas Gutierrez, the Argentine midfielder could make his first appearance since 2013 after returning into contention after his battle with testicular cancer and is assured a warm welcome on Saturday. Despite that, Newcastle have many injury problems with; Steven Taylor, Rob Elliot, Paul Dummett and Cheick Tiote injured and main midfielder Jack Colback suspended.