Eduardo could return to the squad but Fabregas, Rosicky and Adebayor will have to wait until after the international break to make their comebacks. Arshavin should continue in the first team, with Nasri returning to the starting line up on the left.

In the space of about three weeks we’ve gone from five minutes away from being eight points adrift, to being back in the top four by seven goals, in the semi finals of the FA Cup and the quarter finals of the Champions League. Thanks go to Villa for only managing one point from their last four league games, although they were only that far ahead of us because we only managed four points from a possible twelve. The hunt for fourth will hopefully shift further in our favour in the next month or so. This weekend Villa travel to Anfield to face a Liverpool side fresh from thumping Real Madrid and Manchester United, and hopefully they can do us a favour during this purple patch they are enjoying. We take on Newcastle, who are genuinely in the relegation mire and looking to claw their way out but, for all their faults, are rarely a team you can expect to travel to and pick up an easy three points in front of their home fans.

The fixtures are set up nicely after the international break for us to cement our place in the top four. Villa take on Manchester United and Everton, while we face Manchester City and Wigan. Villa haven’t become a terrible side overnight and will probably still pick up points during this tough patch of games, and we’ll need to actually put together a run of wins longer than two in a row in order to create some sort of gap. Hopefully we won’t lose all our key players to injury in the next two weeks, although there’s sort of an air of inevitability about that. It’s about the right time in the season for injuries to have maximum impact and we’re only two weeks away from having a fully fit squad, if Theo’s injury isn’t too serious. As if that will ever happen. van Persie, Bendtner, Arshavin, Ramsey, Gallas, Nasri, Sagna and Clichy could all play twice next week, and Eduardo might start for Croatia on Wednesday the 1st. Of course, they don’t even have to play, we lost Walcott for four months due to a Scott Parker challenge in England training.

Newcastle have won one of their last thirteen games in all competitions, losing seven during that time. They currently find themselves in sixteenth place, level on points with Portsmouth in seventeenth (who have played a game less) and Stoke in eighteenth. They will end up in the bottom three this weekend if we beat them and Portsmouth get a result against Everton, so they will be fairly well motivated going into this fixture. They’ve only won four games at St James’ Park this season, losing four and drawing six. Only Hull and West Brom have conceded more goals at home this season, although until last weekend they had scored more at home than we had. The last time we won at St James’ Park was December 2004, since then we’ve lost one and drawn two. Newcastle have only ever beaten us once, in league and cup.

Team News

Eduardo could return to the squad but Fabregas, Rosicky and Adebayor will have to wait until after the international break to make their comebacks. Arshavin should continue in the first team, with Nasri returning to the starting line up on the left. Walcott misses out with a knee problem that could keep him out till the last month of the season. Diaby will probably partner Denilson or Song in central midfield, and van Persie will partner Bendtner or Eduardo up front. It’s nice to have options again. Clichy will return to the team in place of Gibbs and Almunia should come back into the team after Diouf assaulted his ankle last week. With Newcastle’s strike partnership likely to be Owen and Martins, we’ll probably start with Gallas and Toure to try and match their speed.

Subs: Fabianski, Djourou, Song, Eboue, Ramsey, Vela, Eduardo.

Viduka and Barton are out until after the international break through injury, but Kevin Nolan returns after a three game suspension for a rather horrific challenge. Habib Beye and Danny Guthrie are in contention to be involved in the team following injury. Whichever way you look at their current plight, Owen, Martins, Guttierrez and Duff are all dangerous players when on their game.