Steve Bruce will be hoping to come back to haunt his former club when Newcastle visit Aston Villa in Monday’s Premier League clash.
The 58-year-old spent two ultimately unsuccessful years in the home dugout, missing out on promotion to the top flight due to a defeat in the 2018 Championship final.
Unbeaten in the last 12 league games against this opposition, hi Newcastle side is priced at 13/5 (3.60) with bet365 to collect maximum points here.
The Villans are sitting a point above the relegation zone after a run of three consecutive league defeats, but are 11/10 (2.10) favourites to get back on track by returning to winning ways.
The last three encounters between this pair at this ground have all resulted in draws, and there are odds of 12/5 (3.40) available on this one also finishing up all square.
Jota, Keinan Davis and Jed Steer are all ruled out, with Jack Grealish, Bjorn Engels, Matt Targett and Tom Heaton all facing late fitness tests.
Sean Longstaff will serve the final game of his three-match suspension, while Jamaal Lascelles is injured. Fabian Schar, Florian Lejeune and Matt Ritchie are doubtful.
Having scored just six times in their opening 10 league games, the Magpies have almost doubled that tally with five goals in the last two.
They will back themselves to sharpen their newfound cutting edge even more against Dean Smith’s men, who have been conceding goals at a rate of two per game over the last seven league fixtures.
However, the hosts are also more than capable of getting on the scoresheet considering they have struck 18 times themselves over the last nine matches, and take on a defence with only three clean sheets to their name in 12 fixtures this season.
All in all, odds of 10/11 (1.91) look good on over 2.5 goals to be scored for Villa’s 10th game in a row, as well as Newcastle’s fourth in five on the road.
Odds correct at the time of writing. Please gamble responsibly.