Aston Villa host Newcastle Utd in the Premier League on Saturday evening, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for the encounter.
While Villa go in search of a fifth consecutive league win, our opponents are in brilliant form too having won five on the bounce to storm to third place in the standings.
READ MORE: Key Villa figure will have point to make in crucial Newcastle showdown
It’s a critical period in the season now as we aim to return to the Champions League next year with a top-five finish, and so Emery and the players will be fully aware that we can ill-afford to drop points between now and the end of the campaign if we are to close the gap on our rivals.
Further, we’ll also look to produce a positive response after our disappointment in midweek as we exited the Champions League following a 5-4 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, and so this will be a crucial test of our ability to put that behind us and focus on what is still to play for.
Given the effort put in by the players on Tuesday night, the expectation was that Emery would make changes to his starting XI for this clash, and as per the club’s post below, Villa make four changes from midweek with Tyrone Mings, Ian Maatsen, Marco Asensio and Ollie Watkins coming in to replace Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Amadou Onana and Marcus Rashford.
Once again, Villa’s quality depth and competition for places is on show as we field a strong XI and bench, and it’s good to see Watkins get the nod up top after he’s likely been left frustrated having been left on the bench for key games in recent weeks.
It’s hoped that Emery has got the balance right in the line-up and the players can dig deep to produce another big performance, as this will be a real battle in itself as we think of the bigger picture too in terms of the Champions League qualification race.
Today’s lineup — UP THE VILLAAA 🗣️ #AVLNEW pic.twitter.com/tfQHYxcwJJ
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 19, 2025
