Down two points and down two places in the Premier League standings Newcastle United and Aston Villa will both look to enhance their prospects of top-four football by claiming a big three points against each other on Boxing Day.
The Magpies return to St James’ Park after a victorious visit at Ipswich, while Villa stunned ailing champions Manchester City last sowing them way ahead of their hosts in the league.
Ipswich remain entrenched in the relegation zone while Newcastle have already climbed back into the top half of the Premier League table after two wins from 11 games in this campaign - both coming in the past two games and in precisely the same 4-0 fashion against Leicester City and Ipswich Town.
Although the calibre of their recent opponents could be a factor of debate, Eddie Howe’s side emphatically saw off Leicester at the Vitality Stadium before going on to humble Brentford in the League Cup quarter final stage and then sweeping aside Ipswich.
Alexander Isak was the star man of the match as he fired in the opener after only 30 seconds of play at Portman Road and although the home side got back into the match, further goals from the Swedish striker and right winger Murphy, ensured their side were three goals to the good by half time.
Of course, cup competitions will for sure become a focus as Newcastle aims for ending their 69-year search for domestic cups but Howe is also joined in the pursuit of a European place bracket competition.
Their record at the north-east side is aki, losing only their home games against Villa who are one of their direct rivals - without a defeat 15 Premier League home games - the last three have been winnings by an aggregated score of 10-1.
On paper, you’d think they should triumph, but Newcastle has also failed to win their last three Boxing Day games on their home ground, with their last defeat to Nottingham Forest during the last Christmas campaign ended 3-1.
The most recent was at the City Ground, when the Villans lost to Forest by three points, snapping a three-game winning streak that included a crucial triumph against RB Leipzig in Europe.
They responded well to that loss, as Jhon Duran gave them an early lead against Man City at home before the unstoppable Morgan Rogers scored the second goal against his former team. With a 2-1 victory, they moved up to sixth place, above crisis-hit City.
Emery is now eager to end his team's losing run away from home and set the stage for 2025 as the Birmingham club will host two top-flight games and an FA Cup encounter at Villa Park after traveling to Newcastle.
But for the past three seasons, Villa has lost their first post-Christmas match, giving up three goals each time, and their Boxing Day hosts are not going to be hospitable.
Joelinton will return to Newcastle after serving a suspension, but his availability is still uncertain as the versatile Brazilian has not entirely recovered from a facial injury that necessitated stitches following last week's cup victory against Brentford.
Both have scored seven goals in the Premier League this season, but Unai Emery has been hesitant to team them up. Instead, he wants to see more players in midfield, where Amadou Onana might once more join Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara.
Emery is thrilled that the visitors have nearly a complete roster available because Jacob Ramsey is back in training and Leon Bailey just recovered from his most recent muscular problem; nonetheless, the latter will not play on Thursday.
Jacob Murphy is expected to join Anthony Gordon in Isak's supporting cast after contributing two assists against Brentford, scoring twice against Leicester, and then recording a few goal involvements against Ipswich in his past three league outings.
