The new Newcastle United season is here and the teams are in.
Eddie Howe’s Mags take on Unai Emery’s Aston Villa in the 12.30pm kick-off, looking to put a tricky summer behind us as the 2025/26 Premier League gets underway.
Here’s the side we’ve gone with:
**Starting XI (4-3-3):** Pope – Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento – Bruno, Tonali, Joelinton – Elanga, Gordon, Barnes.
**Subs:** Ramsdale, Hall, Botman, Thiaw, Krafth, Osula, Murphy, Seung-soo, Miley.
Anthony Elanga makes his first Premier League start for the club, coming in down the right alongside Anthony Gordon (false nine) and Harvey Barnes (left wing).
As expected, Alexander Isak misses out along with the injured Joe Willock, with Jacob Ramsey not signed in time to face his boyhood club.
The bench looks strong, with new boys Malick Thiaw, Aaron Ramsdale amd Park Seung-soo in the squad, along with Lewis Hall, Sven Botman and Jacob Murphy.
With Thiaw and Botman not yet ready to start, hopefully Fabian Schar and Dan Burn can cope with Ollie Watkins’ pace and movement after struggling in our 4-1 defeat at Villa Park towards the end of 2024/25.
For Villa, they’ve packed out the midfield and have Morgan Rogers back in the side despite his pre-season injury a few weeks ago.
**Aston Villa XI:** Bizot – Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne – Kamara, Tielemans, Onana – McGinn, Rogers – Watkins.
Howay the lads!