Regarding Aston Villa, it is quite surprising to see they are in the top 4 of EPL standings. They look stronger than the previous season. It is still different with Newcastle, they are now much weaker than the last season. However, it is still the first half of the season, there is still high chance for the changes on the position. Let's see which team to play more consistently in the second half of the season. I believe the team that has a better squad depth probably will play more consistently.
Now seeing Aston Villa is even wilder in terms of the game so that it is in second place which is quite good at the moment, and it is true that if they are still consistent until the end of the season then this is extraordinary with what Unai Emery has achieved.
Newcastle have started to decline, there must be a little bit of improvement in their squad especially some important players are absent due to injury or Tonali is punished, what Eddie Howe must do is find a way out if not they will only be in the middle of the table so we are not sure they can finish better.
Everyone will agree that Aston Villa is an unexpected team so far, they even reached 2nd place in the EPL. I also don't have a strong view that they can penetrate this sacred place which is usually only filled with elite EPL clubs and maybe it's all because of coach Unai Emery who succeeded in turning this team into something even crazier. Aston Villa has an impressive record of beating strong teams like Manchester City and Arsenal, that alone surprises everyone.
Well, for Newcastle it was the opposite and they actually fell deeper in the standings and who knows how long they will be like that. Eddie Howie was praised last season for successfully guiding Newcastle to a place in the Champions League and this season they cannot maintain their existing performance. It was an unforeseen failure.