Newcastle in the FA Cup at Villa Park and BBC match facts

It’s the FA Cup on Saturday and we’re playing Newcastle and it makes it feel like a normal Saturday and less interesting. But it’s the FA Cup and it’s a route to silverware, so there has to be a bit of optimism and part of me is excited because of that.

However, another part of me puts the FA Cup at the bottom of what’s important at the moment and if we were to go out today it would probably increase our chances in the other two, and that part of me sort of thinks that would be a good thing.

The third part of me, hidden and not often aware of what’s going on, wants us to go all the way in this tournament and thinks that playing twice a week is what we should expect and that if we can’t compete on three fronts with the players we have, we’re not ready.

And the FA Cup is special and it must be respected. So it’s Newcastle later today and we should want to continue in this tournament so I expect us to approach it that way.

I also expect to see a change or two, but we’re used to seeing that by now. And as I wrote recently, it will take time for the two new players to catch up, but there are others too. And I think if we approach the day the way we all know we can, we can expect to see our names in the hat for the next round.

That said, this competition is the best chance Newcastle have this season and because of that, they will be up for this game. I expect a good match. And as always, I’ll take a scrappy 1-0 if it means progressing. Back a little later.

Match the BBC Facts

• Aston Villa knocked out Newcastle four times in the FA Cup (1894-95, 1896-97, 1904-05, 2000-01), losing the other two matches in the 1923-24 final and the third round in 1951-52.

• In five of the previous six seasons, Aston Villa and Newcastle met in the FA Cup, with either Villa (1895, 1897, 1905, 1924) or Newcastle (1905, 1924, 1952) reaching the final that year, and two of those seasons saw the teams meet in the final (1904-05 and 1923-24).

• Aston Villa knocked Spurs out in the fourth round of the FA Cup last season, but have not progressed past that stage in consecutive seasons since doing so between 2008-09 and 2010-11.

• Newcastle United have won six of their last 11 away FA Cup games (D2 L3), having previously gone 15 without an away win. However, the Magpies have lost 10 of their last 13 away games against Premier League opponents (W2 D1), failing to score in eight of their last nine.

• Morgan Rogers has been involved in four goals in five FA Cup starts for Aston Villa (3 goals, 1 assist), scoring in their third round win over Spurs this season, while he scored and assisted against Spurs in the fourth round last season.