Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan believed that his side must play as well as they did against West Ham if they were to get a result at Aston Villa that weekend. Keegan named an unchanged team for Villa Park after Andy Cole passed a fitness test. The £1.75m striker had scored 10 goals that season but had picked up a deal leg on Thursday and had only trained lightly.
Kevin Keegan said “He’s a durable lad and we just pulled him out of training as a precautionary measure. It should be a great game and I’m really looking forward to it. Ron Atkinson likes to play football the same way as I do and we are two of the form sides in the league. Our performances against West Ham was our best yet in the premier league but we will have to repeat it to get something at Villa Park. Villa gave Manchester United a run for their money last season and they are starting to get into the gear again now.”
