Newcastle United will be looking to bounce back from what was a frustrating pre-season both on and off the pitch when we take on Aston Villa in our opening game of the 2025/26 Premier League season.
With a couple of notable exceptions, we’ll be close to full strength on Saturday, with Lewis Hall, Sven Botman and Joelinton each available in what could be a high-quality, physical game.
Howe [confirmed earlier today](https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2025/08/15/two-ruled-out-of-aston-villa-update-on-thiaw-and-ramsey-howes-press-conference/) that Joe Willock (injury) and Alexander Isak (on strike) will miss the trip to Villa Park, with Malick Thiaw in the squad and Jacob Ramsey unfortunately not signed in time to feature.
But there has now been updates from the Aston Villa end, with Unai Emery speaking to the media on Friday afternoon, with some key absences and inclusions for the hosts.
Thanks to his red card against Manchester United on the final day of last season, something which you could say ultimately helped put us in the Champions League, **Emiliano Martinez** will be suspended for Saturday’s game.
In his place will be league debutant **Marco** **Bizot**, who was signed from French side Brest last month. Bizot boasts both strong league and Champions League experience, so he’s by no means a big downgrade on the Argentine World Cup hero.
Emery also confirmed that both “(Andres) Garcia is injured and (Ross) Barkley is not fit.” which could leave Villa looking a little light in terms of full backs and midfielders.
Annoyingly, however, key man **Morgan Rogers** has been passed fit, having previously been injured during their pre-season friendly against Roma and missing the subsequent games against Marseille and Villarreal.
The big talking point ahead of Saturday’s game will be the looming announcement that we are set to sign boyhood Villa star Jacob Ramsey, who is of course a significant loss for Villa so late in the window.
On the youngster’s departure, Emery commented “Of course Jacob Ramsey is not with us today. If he is leaving, we are going to continue our work. I was very happy with what we did with him and now I’m focusing on the players we have.”
We’ve narrowly missed the 12pm Friday deadline to register our soon-to-be latest signing, so Ramsey’s potentially first game in our colours will be the colossal fixture at home to Liverpool.
But looking towards Saturday, we can expect at least two of Amadou Onana, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara to pose an interesting midfield battle against our league-renowned trio of Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes.