Good afternoon and welcome to LIVE coverage of Newcastle United against Aston Villa from the Sports Direct Arena in the Premier League.

Aston Villa newcomer Joe Bennett is not included at the Sports Direct Arena on Sunday despite the left-back making the switch from Middlesbrough in midweek in a £2.5million deal plus add-ons. Defender Ciaran Clark returns after serving a one match suspension. Clark was ruled out of the midweek Capital One Cup win over Tranmere after being red-carded against Everton last weekend.

Newcastle United will be without Ryan Taylor, who is set to be missing with the knee injury he suffered during the Europa League win over Atromitos. James Perch is also missing due to injury. There is a place on the substitutes bench for 18-year-old Gael Bigirimana, who was signed from Coventry City last summer.

Aston Villa: Brad Guzan; Matthew Lowton, Ron Vlaar, Ciaran Clark, Eric Lichaj; Brett Holman, Karim El Ahamadi, Stephen Ireland, Barry Bannan; Andreas Weimann, Darren Bent..subs: Shay Given, Nathan Baker, Derrick Williams, Graham Burke, Charles N'Zogbia, Jordan Bowery, Gabriel Agbonlahor

Teams: Newcastle United: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Davide Santon; Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Vurnon Anita, Jonas Gutierrez; Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse..substitutes: Steve Harper, Mike Williamson, Dan Gosling, Gael Bigirimana, Romain Amalfitano, Gabriel Obertan, Sylvain Marveaux