🏏 Sat, 17 Oct 2026 17:30 BST
Newcastle United
vs
Aston Villa
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
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- Newcastle sit 11th on eight points from six matches (two wins, two draws, two defeats, minus-three goal difference), while Aston Villa arrive 17th with five points from one win, two draws and three losses. Both have made slow starts next to leaders Manchester City, who already have 21 points from seven games, and Villa are only a single point clear of 18th-placed Sunderland.
- Newcastle's problem is at the back: 13 goals conceded in six league games, including two 4-1 away hammerings, at Leeds in round four and at Coventry in round six. Their home form reads very differently, with a 2-1 win over Hull City in round five and a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth in round three, so St James' Park is where Eddie Howe's side must repair that minus-three goal difference.
- Four of Villa's five points have come on the road: a goalless draw at Hull City in round three and a 3-2 win at Tottenham in round five, their only victory so far. At home they lost 1-0 to Arsenal and 2-1 to Nottingham Forest before drawing 2-2 with Brentford, an inverted pattern that makes this away trip less daunting than 17th place suggests.
- Both teams set up in a 4-2-3-1, which puts the double pivots at the heart of the contest. Newcastle pair Joelinton, the 30-year-old Brazil international converted from centre-forward into a midfield enforcer, with Nico Gonzalez, a 24-year-old Barcelona academy product who has since played for Porto and Manchester City. Villa answer with Joao Gomes, a £34m summer buy from Wolves who made 35 league appearances last season, and Boubacar Kamara, who debuted for Marseille at 17.
- Zion Suzuki starts in goal for Villa. The 24-year-old Japan international came through Urawa Reds' academy, made 59 appearances across two Serie A seasons with Parma and joined Villa in August 2026 after starting all four of Japan's matches at the 2026 World Cup. At 190cm he commands crosses well and is comfortable in possession — attributes he will need against a Newcastle attack that has produced 10 goals in six games.
- Nicolas Jackson leads the Villa line after joining from Chelsea in August 2026 for what is reported as a club-record fee. The 25-year-old Senegal striker first broke through under Unai Emery at Villarreal and spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich, and his runs in behind will be measured against two imposing centre-backs: 193cm Sven Botman, a Ligue 1 winner with Lille, and 194cm Malick Thiaw, signed from AC Milan.
- Yoane Wissa, a natural striker who set Brentford's club record for Premier League goals, takes the number 10 role for Newcastle behind 21-year-old Belgium international Matias Fernandez-Pardo, the 188cm forward who emerged at Lille. Harvey Barnes, the direct left winger who made his name at Leicester, occupies one flank, with Arsenal academy graduate Joe Willock — who once scored in seven straight games on loan — on the other side.
- Villa's attacking band is strikingly young. Johan Manzambi, the 21-year-old Switzerland international signed from Freiburg for a club-record £59.5m, starts alongside 20-year-old Brazilian Alysson, a left-footed right winger who played 38 matches for Gremio in 2025. Emiliano Buendia, the 29-year-old former Championship Player of the Year at Norwich, provides the craft after returning from a long knee injury.
- The two back fours could scarcely be more different. Villa field two natural right-backs in Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Matty Cash either side of a veteran centre-back pairing: 33-year-old Tyrone Mings, left-footed and 196cm, and 32-year-old Victor Lindelof, once a Manchester United team-mate of Wan-Bissaka. Newcastle counter with 22-year-old Chelsea academy product Lewis Hall and 20-year-old Lewis Miley, a central midfielder by trade, in the defensive line.
- Lukas Hornicek keeps his place in the Newcastle goal. The 198cm Czech moved to Portugal from Pardubice for a club-record fee before joining from Braga, and he has one senior international cap to his name. With England's Nick Pope — also 198cm, and 34 years old — waiting on the bench and 13 goals already conceded, the 24-year-old has every incentive to deliver a convincing night.