Newcastle United hosts Aston Villa at St James’ Park on Saturday evening in Matchday 7 of the 2026-27 Premier League season, with both clubs looking to improve their positions in the bottom half of the table.
Matthias Jaissle’s side enters the match following consecutive 4-1 away defeats to Leeds United and Coventry City. Newcastle has collected eight points from its opening six league matches, recording two wins, two draws and two losses. However, Newcastle is unbeaten in its last five home matches across
all competitions, including a 2-1 victory over Hull City before the international break.
Anthony Elanga, Jacob Ramsey, Ewen Jaouen and Tino Livramento remain unavailable through injury, while Bazoumana Traore is a doubt. Joelinton could make his first start of the season after recovering from injury, while William Osula is pushing for a place in attack.
Aston Villa enters the fixture following a 6-0 Champions League victory over Fenerbahce on Wednesday. Unai Emery’s side has won four of its last six matches across all competitions but sits 16th in the Premier League with five points from six games.
Villa drew 2-2 with Brentford in its most recent league outing and has won three of its last four away matches. Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen, Matteo Ruggeri and Modo Cisse remain sidelined, while Nicolas Jackson has scored four goals in his last three appearances.
Here are some of Jaissle’s Wisdom Nuggets, courtesy of NUFC.co.uk
On Touré’s availability…
“Bazou seems to be much better. We’re happy for that (as) it didn’t look well during the match. He’s progressing well in the last few days so, hopefully, he is able to join the group on Saturday.”
On Elanga, who has missed the last three league games due to injury…
“Unfortunately, he’s been out for many, many weeks. Now, it’s the process is to bring back him back slowly but surely in a smart way and not too much in a hurry.
“Hopefully, next week, he is about to train again with the group, at least partially and we then integrate him again step-by-step. We miss him a lot. I can’t wait to have him back in the squad.”
On Livramento and Ramsey…
“With Tino, we need to be cautious and we don’t rush him. We know about his injury situation and history but we’re optimistic in the next few weeks we can bring him back step by step.
“With JJ, it’s a bit different. He’s making progress. Hopefully next week, he can join in partially in training and then we can build it from there.”
On Monday’s defeat at Coventry…
“We made too many individual mistakes so these things we need to avoid otherwise you get punished in this league. Even though we’re a young squad, we need to learn fast.
“This is the message now to the players as individuals but also as a group, to avoid these things, and then I’m sure we’ll be back on the right track straight away.”
On Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who targets a first Magpies goal since last summer’s transfer from LOSC Lille…
“Young lads coming to the Premier League for the first time need that adaptation time. I got advice that I should be patient at least half a year with them.
“Of course, you don’t have the time in the Premier League so the development and adjustment needs to be as fast as possible.
“I’m glad we’re already seeing him in the situations that’s he bringing the principles on the pitch. He’s creating the chances and I think it’s just a goal missing to give him the confidence back. He’s an amazing player and he has so much potential.”
On Joelinton and Dan Burn, who both gained their first competitive outings of the 2026/27 season against Coventry…
“We need to manage that really carefully. That’s the tricky part. We missed them so much. Joe is now longer in training compared to Dan and these are the next steps for both of them to give them more game time.
“For Dan, it will most likely be too soon to get that starting position already as he’s just trained a couple of times but for Joelinton, it could be a bit different.”
On Aston Villa, who claimed a 6-0 win against Fenerbahçe in the UEFA Champions League…
“It gives them a huge boost. They have their problems in the league but a quality squad picked with such individual class and a coach who has shown, over many years, his quality.
“We are aware what we are facing but at home, with our crowd backing us, we can hurt every opponent.”
Howay!
- Date: Saturday, October 17th
- Kick-off: 17:30 BST / 12:30 EST
- Location: St. James’ Park, Newcastle (England)
For all your watching needs, check LiveSoccerTV.
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