It's said to have been do-or-die time for Aston Villa for the last four matches or so, but it really is essential that the Villa get all three points at home against Newcastle. A point will do, of course, but a loss will likely lead to much weeping and gnashing of teeth, or at least the emptying of the contents of a bottle of whisky down one's throat. The Villa are just two points off the drop and if Arsenal fail to do us a favor once again (seriously, y'all couldn't beat Blackburn?) they'll be in 17th. Wigan, Wolverhampton and West Ham all lost on Saturday, thank goodness, so now it's time to just find those three points. They'll put us just one behind Fulham, Stoke City, and Sunderland. That's decent company. But can this lineup get the job done?

Aston Villa Starting XI: Friedel; Walker, Dunne, Collins, L Young; Makoun, Petrov, Downing, Young, Agbonlahor; Bent

Bench: Marshall, Clark, Cuellar, Reo-Coker, Pires, Albrighton, Heskey

Newcastle Starting XI: Harper; Simpson, Williamson, S Taylor, Enrique; Coloccini; Barton, Guthrie, Gutierrez; Ranger, Lovenkrands

Bench: Krul, Ferguson, Tavernier, Richardson, R Taylor, Donaldson, Kuqi

UTV!