Although Newcastle humbled Aston Villa at St James Park on Boxing Day, they are a largely different proposition at home, and their recent win over Manchester City at Villa Park is evidence of how good Unai Emery’s men can be in front of their own support.

Add the fact that Brighton’s 0-0 draw at home to Brentford on Friday night means that Fabian Hurzeler’s men have failed to win any of their last 6 outings in the Premier League and perhaps more importantly, they have only won 3 of their 9 away fixtures this season.

Before Monday’s meeting at Villa Park, the hosts have only managed to keep 2 clean sheets in this season’s edition of the Premier League – 11.1% of all games played. By comparison, the visitors do not fare all that much better with only 4 clean sheets to their name this season – 22.22%

In addition, Villa have conceded an average of 1.61 goals this season, although that figure drops to 1.11 when looking solely at their output at Villa Park. Meanwhile, Brighton have conceded 1.44 goals per game, a figure that increases to 1.55 when looking at their away record this season.

Somewhat coincidentally, both Aston Villa and Brighton have recorded a total for and against an average of 10.50 corners per Premier League game this season. However, Monday’s hosts and visitors each reached that figure differently.

Villa average 6.33 corners per game but concede 4.17. Brighton has more in the way of equilibrium, with 5.28 corners on average being collected by Fabian Hurzeler’s men and 5.22 being conceded. Therefore, with 10.50 being the average, we have opted to go 1 higher in order to offer some breathing space.

Aston Villa’s card count for the season currently sits at 2.33 collected on average in this season’s Premier League, while Brighton’s currently sits slightly lower at 2.06. Both sides also see their opponents average more cards per game this season – Villa’s at 2.94 and Brighton’s at 2.61.

When looking at the overall discipline charts, Brighton currently sit third bottom having only picked up 36 yellows and a single red card and hosts Villa sit in 12th having picked up 4 more yellows and an additional red. Due to their positioning in this table, we do not envisage referee Craig Pawson being too busy at Villa Park, especially as he averages 4.16 yellows per game.