Aston Villa owner Dr Tony Xia has aimed a dig at Newcastle United following their 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage against Fulham this evening.
Rafael Benitez's men were undone in their first game of the season by a Matt Smith header on the stroke of half time and could not recover, suffering an opening night loss.
The Magpies have been widely tipped as favourites to win the Championship this season, while Xia's Aston Villa have been tipped to struggle by some pundits.
And so the Villa owner took delight at Newcastle slipping up so early on and is aiming for his men to now defy their doubters.
He wrote on Twitter: "So, really need to ignore someone's kinda predicts. Trust in ourselves! UTV!"
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Aston Villa are set to open their campaign at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, before they taste EFL Cup action with a trip to play Luton Town.
Xia's side first meet Newcastle this season at Villa Park on Saturday 24th September.
The reverse fixture at St. James' Park comes on 18th February.
And Xia's comments may well have added extra spice to both encounters.
