Villa preview: Santon injured as Taylor form sparks England rumours

Steven Taylor has been in outstanding form so far this season

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd knock up a quick post on Newcastle's trip to Villa Park this Saturday.

The Toon travel to the Midlands still unbeaten after gaining a point at Loftus Road despite a poor performance in West London on Monday evening. The challenge will be markedly more difficult this weekend as they face who possess one of the most dangerous attacks outside of the top four in English football.

Newcastle's defence has been one of the best in the league so far this campaign, conceding just one goal in four games, their back four will have to stand tall once more if they are to keep a clean sheet against the pacy Gabriel Agbonlahor and deadly finisher Darren Bent.

One option that will not be available to Manager Alan Pardew is recently signed full back Davide Santon, the Italian has suffered a re-occurrence of a knee injury in training and has been set for a scan by the club's medical staff. This setback means Ryan Taylor is likely to continue at left-back despite struggling noticeably against Sean Wright-Philips.

The former Wigan man can take solace in the form of his two centre-backs Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor who were impressive again on Monday night, with the latter now reportedly on the radar of Fabio Capello.

There are a number of issues the Newcastle boss has to address ahead of this encounter, the first is the threat of the side being overrun in midfield, which happened with alarming frequency against QPR. Many Newcastle fans, this blogger included, believe that this problem can be solved by simply deploying an extra man in midfield to serve as a link between attack and defence, allowing Cheik Tiote to focus more on protecting the back four.

Both Tiote and Yohan Cabaye were in poor form on Monday night, which unsurprisingly did not help the situation in midfield, still it appears that Newcastle are suffering most from the unavailability of Hatem Ben Arfa, who Pardew has earmarked for a return to action against Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup. Ben Arfa would most likely play in behind a main striker and provide the link in play between midfield and attack.

However, with the Clairefontaine academy graduate still unavailable, Pardew has an interesting decision to make. Does he stick with the 4-4-2 formation or switch to a 4-4-1-1 and deploying an extra man to play behind a solitary striker. If he chooses the former he surely must partner Demba Ba with Leon Best, Irish international Best is clearly the most talented forward at he club, while Ba offers a more mobile presence to that of Shola Ameobi who was ineffective in Monday night's contest.

If Pardew does decide the change tack then he has a difficult decision to make as to who to play in the hole behind a frontman, the electric Gabriel Obertan may be a good candidate as the Frenchman possesses the speed to put opposing defences on the backfoot, compatriot Sylvain Marveaux may well be another viable option to play in a free role as he versatility enables him to play on either flank. Despite Newcastle's growing contingent of French attackers, Pardew may well be tempted to throw an Englishman into his side.

Midfielder Dan Gosling has been blighted by injury for a large portion of his young career, but the former Everton man is available for selection and could well have provide Newcastle with the attacking impetus they need after he scored two for Newcastle's reserve side in a 6-0 thumping of Norwich.

Whatever Pardew decides his selection will have to guarantee one thing for Newcastle, goals. The side cannot rely on on its defensive stability every week and a positive attacking display is needed if Pardew's men are to add to their points tally at Villa Park on Saturday.