Match: Villa v Newcastle 
Venue: Villa Park
Date: Sunday May 24 - ko 4pm
Referee: Chris Foy

COMMENTARY

Jack Woodward is joined by Andy Blair on AVTV.

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STAR MEN

John Carew just can't stop banging the goals in for Villa. The big man netted in our recent victory over Hull City and he was on target again last week against Middlesbrough for his 15th goal of the season.

Newcastle's Michael Owen has been written off countless times but he is always a goal threat. Despite the many injury problems he has suffered during his career, he still has a scoring record which is the envy of most Barclays Premier League strikers.

CLUB CONNECTION

Nolberto Solano spent considerably longer at Newcastle than he did at Villa but he was still immensely popular at both clubs.

His time with Villa, in fact, was sandwiched between two spells with the Magpies before he moved to London to join West Ham in 2007.

Solano became the first Peruvian to play in England following his transfer to St James' Park from Boca Juniors in 1998, and over the next six years he scored 29 goals in 172 league appearances. He also played in the 1999 FA Cup final against Manchester United.

In January 2004, Solano moved to Villa for £1.5m and made his debut at Leicester in a 5-0 victory.

The following season he was voted Player of the Year by both his team-mates and supporters, while manager David O'Leary hailed him as "my best-ever buy."

But by the start of the 2005-06 campaign he was ready a move back to Tyneside and he went back to the North East in a deal which saw James Milner come to Villa Park on a season-long loan.

INTERESTING STATS

Villa will gain their first top-five finish since 1996-97 if they manage to beat Newcastle and Everton fail to take three points from Fulham at Craven Cottage.

 Newcastle can only stay up if they better Hull's result against Manchester United at the KC Stadium, or if they win at Villa Park and North East rivals Sunderland lose to Chelsea.

 Victory for Martin O'Neill's team would be their 50th success over Newcastle in the Barclays Premier League.

Newcastle have gained more points (57) against Villa than any other Barclays Premier League side.

The distance between the two clubs is 203 miles (327 kilometres).

PREVIOUSLY

Obafemi Martins was the star of the show as his brace helped Newcastle to a 2-0 win over Villa at St James' Park in November.

But Villa fared much better against the Toon Army last season. At St James' Park they performed impressively and came away with a 0-0 draw, but they were comfortable 4-1 winners in the return game at Villa Park. That day, John Carew struck a hat-trick and Wilfred Bouma bagged Villa's other goal.