Newcastle v Aston Villa: Premier League – live!

45+3 min: It’s another corner, and another delay as there’s a tedious amount of shoving going on.

45+2 min: Villa string some more passes together and win a corner. It falls to McGinn, who shoots from the D – on target, but carried wide by a deflection.

45 min: We will have five added minutes. It could have been even more.

43 min: Chris Wood takes a break from heading the ball to have a go from distance. It’s high, wide and ugly.

Liverpool have gone into the lead at Burnley, through Fabinho. The only surprise is that it took them so long.

41 min: Villa suddenly remembers that they can attack too and get into the Newcastle box twice without threatening. McGinn is the next name to go into the book, rather harshly as he got the ball in the process of tackling Saint-Maximin.

39 min: The crowd are making so much noise and inspiring Newcastle. They surge into the box again, but Saint-Maximin puts in so many twists and turns that he ends up confusing himself. Joelinton tries so hard to win the ball back that he commits three fouls, according to Gary Neville, and collects a yellow card.

38 min: Yet another delay as Manquillo gets treatment on a sore ankle.

37 min: It was too close to go up and down, so Trippier, who clearly grew up reading We’re Going On A Bear Hunt, just went through. He got lucky with a deflection, bobbling up off Buendia’s knee, but it was a case of fortune favoring the bold.

Blasted straight through the wall!

So, a free kick to Newcastle. Trippier lines it up and McGinn plays the draft excluder.

Yes, it was outside the area – just in the D. Good play by Willock though, powering into the box.

Willock goes down, it’s definitely a foul by Calum Chambers, but is it in the area…?

30 min: Another shot for Willock as Newcastle’s pressing pins Villa in their own half.

29 min: Wood, a caption tells us, has already won six aerial duels. Nobody else on either side has won more than two.

27 min: A free kick near the corner flag for Villa, who do a bit better as Digne manages not to overhit it, but again nothing comes of it. Newcastle bustle up the other end, where Wood has a header that goes wide. As in the first five minutes, Newcastle look the sharper of the two sides.

25 min: The crowd’s hopes rise at Saint-Maximin pounces on a loose ball and steams into the box, but his dinked cross is easily headed away.

23 min: Before it became all about Schar again, there was an actual shot! But not a very good one – Joe Willock blasted the ball into Row Z.

21 min: Schar’s wound is bleeding, so he gets more attention from the physio. He’s now sporting a Terry Butcher headband, though, as Gary Neville points out, the cut seems to be below the eye, not above it.

Meanwhile, Spurs are 2-0 down to Wolves! Who hardly ever score more than one. The scorer is Dendoncker.

17 min: It’s all gone a bit scrappy. Schar again shows some intent, racing onto the right wing, but Villa get plenty of bodies around him.

16 min: … and Luiz puts too much on it again. How hard can it be to take a corner?

15 min: Newcastle was the better side until the interruption, but it’s been mostly Villa since. They win a corner as a neat sequence of passes ends with Ramsey bursting into the box.

13 min: More good work from Schar, who intercepts and then sends a through ball down the right. Fraser, in acres, gets a cross in that Wood can’t reach.

10 min: Digne sends a fine ball for Watkins to chase. Schar, showing no ill effects, is alert enough to shunt it out.

9 min: Schar is able to continue, thankfully. Villa has a free kick in a dangerous area but Douglas Luiz overhits it.

An early goal elsewhere: Wolves take the lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium through Raul Jimenez, who followed up a shot from Ruben Neves that was well saved by Hugo Lloris.

5 min: A worry for Newcastle as Fabian Schar stays on the floor after a collision in mid-air with his captain, Kieran Trippier. It looks as if he’s being treated for a black eye.

3 min: Villa’s turn to make their way into the box, only for Digne and Ramsey to get in each other’s way.

2 min: An early free kick for Newcastle as Manquillo is brought down on the left, but they can’t do anything with it.

The players are on the field, and Hey Jude is ringing out around the ground. Sport these days, eh: it’s basically Paul McCartney v Neil Diamond.

Villa haven’t won at St James’ Park since 2005. That was an occasion to remember: Villa won 3-0, and by the end Newcastle were down to eight men, It may have been a case of a team coming to resemble its manager – Graeme Souness.

Steven Gerrard can’t play Ezri Konsa, who picked up a red card late on against Leeds, so he brings in Calum Chambers to partner Tyrone Mings. Otherwise Villa are unchanged, with Danny Ings still stuck on the bench.

Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Chambers, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Ramsey; Buendia, Watkins, Coutinho.

Subs: Olsen, Hause, Young, Iroegbunam, Sanson, Chrisene, Chukwuemeka, Bailey, Ings.

Eddie Howe opts not to change a winning front six, so Guimarães has to wait his turn. At the back Dan Burn comes in for Jamaal Lascelles and Javier Manquillo for Matt Targett, who can’t play against his parent club. Kieran Trippier, whose fitness was in doubt, is not only playing – he’s also the captain.

Newcastle United: Dubravka; Trippier, Burn, Schar, Manquillo; Willock, Shelvey, Joelinton; Fraser, Wood, Saint-Maximin.

Subs: Darlow, Krafth, Dummett, De Bolle, Longstaff, Guimares, Almiron, Murphy, Gayle.

Three months ago today, two grand old football clubs appointed new managers. Newcastle rescued Eddie Howe from gardening leave, while Aston Villa Poached Steven Gerrard from Rangers. Both have instilled belief and made some shrewd signings, and look at them now: neither side has lost in the league since 2 January (don’t mention the Cup). Who knew that if you made a progressive appointment, you’d make progress?

Newcastle have gone from no-hopers, nailed on for relegation, to collecting eight points from four games. The last MBM they appeared in, when they came from behind to beat Everton on Wednesday, contained a sentence you don’t see very often: “Newcastle were superb tonight.” Today they may well change a winning team by giving a start to their newest recruit, the Brazilian holding midfielder Bruno Guimaraes. He will find himself trying to thwart the Brazilian attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho, who was instrumental in all three Villa goals against Leeds in midweek – first a pinpoint finish, then two artful assists for Jacob Ramsey, a gifted young player who has been even better since Coutinho arrived.

Kick-off is at 2pm GMT, and I’ll be back soon with the teams.