Newcastle United were one of only two teams to do the domestic double over Aston Villa last season.
Unai Emery’s men secured Champions League football and for large parts of their campaign, everything was rosy, other than their games against Newcastle.
It’s crazy to think that on the opening day of the 2023/24 Premier League season, Eddie Howe watched his team put five past the Midlands side, yet it was Villa celebrating in May because they finished fourth and their opponents had to settle for seventh.
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One of the key players for Villa was Ollie Watkins, who scored 19 Premier League goals and supplied 13 assists, but he wasn’t able to find the back of the net against the Magpies.
Since the England international, who is currently at Euro 2024, moved to Villa, he has played at St James’ Park on four occasions, picking up only one point and losing three times, including watching his team concede nine in the last two.
Despite the 28-year-old’s strong goalscoring record in the Premier League, he is also yet to score on that ground.
No wonder Watkins thinks that St James’ Park is the ground that makes him most nervous, as he admitted ‘I have had a stinker there every year’, as he told England’s official YouTube channel.
There was one stand that Watkins alluded to – the Leazes End – where the away fans are housed and the sheer size of it.
He stated that when you look up towards that end ‘it just keeps going and going’, but now he is hearing that Newcastle plan to ‘make another one like that’.
But given the former Brentford man’s record in front of the Toon Army faithful, that’s the last thing he wants and he simply doesn’t want to see an extension, as he explained with a massive smile on his face.
Ollie Watkins on St James’ Park
“Yeah, Newcastle, St James’ Park,” responds Watkins on which stadium makes him most nervous.
“I have had a stinker there every year, I think. But you just look up at that one stand and it just keeps going and going.
“I have heard they are making another one like that. I am like ‘no, don’t, please don’t’. But I would say there.”
Aston Villa and Newcastle United next season
Only 12 months ago, Newcastle were the ones celebrating getting into the Champions League and playing against Europe’s elite.
That devastating win over PSG will be long remembered by fans, but unfortunately, they couldn’t do much more and had to bow out of the group stages.
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Now it’s Villa’s turn to lock horns with Europe’s best after their fourth-placed finish last term.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Villa’s season pans out because it proved to be very difficult for Howe and his players, although, injuries didn’t help.
Villa’s aim will be to maintain that top-four spot, but they will have teams like Newcastle hunting them down and ready to rip it up again.
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