Aston Villa face Newcastle United in a tricky opening clash to their 2025-26 Premier League campaigns.
Only goal difference separated the teams in sixth and fifth respectively come the conclusion of last season, so both Villa and Newcastle will chase a winning start to the new campaign as they target a top-four finish again.
Team News
Emiliano Martinez is suspended for Villa after he was sent off in their final-day loss at Manchester United last season.
Ross Barkley, Andres Garcia (both knock) and Morgan Rogers (ankle) are set to be available.
Newcastle will be without striker, Alexander Isak who is internally suspended due to his desire to move to Liverpool.
Anthony Gordon (ankle) is set to be available but Joe Willock (calf) is ruled out.
New signing, Malick Thiaw will be included in the matchday squad after two days of successful training following his arrival from AC Milan.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Newcastle at Villa Park on Saturday 16 August at 12:30pm BST, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK
Stat Attack
- Villa have won two of their last five meetings against Newcastle (W2, L5).
- Newcastle have won one of their last nine visits to Villa (W1, D3, L5).
- Villa are chasing consecutive wins over Newcastle for the first time since 2004-05 season.
- Unai Emery’s Villains have failed to keep clean sheets in nine of their last 11 league matches at home (W7, D4).
- Newcastle have avoided defeat in three of their last five away league matches (W2, D1, L2).
Prediction
Despite PSR issues affecting Villa’s transfer business this summer, they’ve still done the business in pre-season with goals in all but one game despite inconsistent results, which underlines how strong Villa will be especially with home advantage here.
Newcastle have their own worries with the Isak saga and some sloppy pre-season performances which yielded just a single win – 4-0 against Carlisle, but they now need to knuckle down and produce their best quality because this is an early psychological game in the race for European qualification.
Nevertheless both teams will be right up for this given how significant the result could be come next May so I am going for a draw such is the tight margins between them.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle
Result: Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle
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