I've been admiring the snow and watching Mad Men all morning, so I am way too tired from all this excitement to create one of those pretty little charts that typically go at the top of our open threads. Sorry guys -- blame Aaron for his internet being out.

The Magpies are perfect in all competitions thus far in 2012 -- could it be the Villa that manage to end that streak? Or will we see the same humiliation we saw in Newcastle last season? It's been put forward that Newcastle is "almost in Scotland" and therefore we supporters should be optimistic. And no, it doesn't matter that a Scot was leading in that horrible defeat, because it wasn't snowing then. Very well. Here are your lineups:

Newcastle Starting XI: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Ryan Taylor, Danny Guthrie, James Perch, Jonas Gutierrez; Leon Best, Demba Ba

Newcastle Bench: Rob Elliot, Shane Ferguson, Dan Gosling, Hatem Ben Arfa, Gabriel Obertan, Shola Ameobi, Papiss Cisse.

Aston Villa Starting XI: Shay Given; Alan Hutton, Carlos Cuellar, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock; Charles N'Zogbia, Stephen Ireland, Stiliyan Petrov, Ciaran Clark; Darren Bent, Robbie Keane. (arrange these as you like)

Villa Bench: Brad Guzan, Andreas Weimann, Gary Gardner, Barry Bannan, Nathan Baker, Eric Lichaj, Emile Heskey.

Aston Villa vs. QPR Wednesday, February 1st Location: Villa Park, Birmingham Records + Form (W-D-L, Points, +/-, Form) Aston Villa: 6-9-7, 27, -3, 12th, W-D-L-W-D QPR: 5-5-12, 20 -15, 15th, W-L-L-L-D

Aston Villa XI: Shay Given; Alan Hutton, Richard Dunne, Carlos Cuellar, Stephen Warnock; Ciaran Clark, Stephen Ireland, Stiliyan Petrov, Chares N’Zogbia; Darren Bent, Robbie Keane

Aston Villa Subs: Brad Guzan, Barry Bannan, Andreas Weimann, Nathan Baker, Gary Gardner, Emile Heskey, Eric Lichaj (!!!)

QPR XI: Paddy Kenny; Luke Young, Anton Ferdinand, Nedum Onuoha, Taye Taiwo; Shaun Derry, Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jamie Mackie; Djibril Cisse, Rob Hulse

QPR Subs: Radek Cerny, Clint Hill, Fitz Hall, Tommy Smith, Hogan Ephraim, Federico Macheda, Angelo Balanta

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Arsenal vs. Aston Villa Sunday, January 29th Location: Emirates Stadium, London

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Wolverhampton vs. Aston Villa Saturday, January 21st Location: Molineux Stadium Records + Form (W-D-L, Points, +/-, Form) Wolves: 4-6-11, 24, -14, 17th, D-L-D-D-D Villa: 5-9-7, 24 -4, 11th, D-L-W-D-L

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Aston Villa vs. Everton Saturday, January 14th Location: Villa Park, Birmingham Records + Form (W-D-L, Points, +/-, Form) Aston Villa: 5-8-7, 23, -4, 13th, L-W-D-L-L Everton: 7-3-10, 23 -4, 11th, L-L-W-D-W

Coming to you live from Villa Park (ok, ok, I'm personally coming to you live from a hotel room in Den Haag, but you get what I mean) it's Aston Villa v Everton -- the match that will decide...nothing. Nothing, save for perhaps which team might actually start climbing up the table, with the two clubs separated by just a point. For a more in-depth preview, see the work of Aaron.

Lineups after the jump (hint -- no surprises here).

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Bristol Rovers vs. Aston Villa Saturday, January 7th Location: Memorial Stadium, Bristol

Goodness me -- Alex McLeish said he'd take the FA Cup seriously, but really....a full strength starting XI to face League Two side Bristol Rovers? (and yes, I'm convinced Non-Sir truly believes that Emile Heskey is on the same level as Gabriel Agbonlahor). McLeish already acknowledged that the players are exhausted -- not sure this is going to help any.

Ah well, UTV!

Bristol Rovers Starting XI: Michael Poke, Danny Woodards, Cian Bolger, Aaron Downes, Gary Sawyer, Craig Stanley, Andy Dorman, Chris Zebroski, Eliot Richards, Mustapha Carayol, Joe Anyinsah.

Bristol Rovers Bench: Michael Smith, Scott McGleish, (there are two) Brown, Lance Cronin, Kayne McLaggon, Joradan Goddard, Byron Anthony.

Aston Villa Starting XI: Brad Guzan, Alan Hutton, James Collins, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock, Stiliyan Petrov, Marc Albrighton, Ciaran Clark, Stephen Ireland, Darren Bent, Emile Heskey.

Aston Villa Bench: Gabby Agbonlahor, Barry Bannan, Andy Marshall, Gary Gardner, Andreas Weimann, Fabian Delph, Charles N'Zogbia.

Here is a place to talk about this game!