Wednesday's Newcastle win sets up highly anticipated Aston Villa match on Saturday | OneFootball

Watching Newcastle play on Wednesday against Crystal Palace, Aston Villa will need to be prepared for a battle on Saturday. The Magpies put on an incredible Premier League performance at James' Park in their 5-0 win and looked every bit like a side that has found its top form.

With an upcoming fixture against Villa on the horizon, this showing is important for AVFC faithful to assess. The chance of overtaking NCFC in the standings very quickly dissipated after the lopsided mid-week victory, but more importantly, it showed what a challenge the Toons can be when they are able to play in open space and get numbers forward.

In a lot of ways, the same concerns from the PSG Champions League legs show up here. There aren't any two ways about it; the back four will need to be strong on Saturday. Any lapses or carelessness will be punished.

It also needs to be remembered that while the Newcastle win ended up coming by a large margin, a missed penalty kick did nearly provide the game to be back on level terms early on in the match. That isn't to say that Palace would have found a way to get a result or anything like that, but moments like that, if played out differently, can end up having massive ripple effects on the pitch.

Lining up for a good Aston Villa match

What this should show is that NCFC can also be caught out and that as long as Villa don't fall behind early, they will know that they have the quality to always grab a result. Either way, playing at home and coming to Villa Park are two entirely different endeavors for teams.

As evidenced by the second leg against PSG, there is always a chance for AVFC to win outright, with the floor being a draw for Unai Emery's side. It's been since August that anyone has come to B6 and earned a victory across all FA Cup, EPL, and CL matches. That won't change on Saturday either.