Aston Villa, Newcastle United team news confirmed: Does Unai Emery rotate for crunch Premier League fixture?

Aston Villa and Newcastle United have announced their first XIs for Saturday's Premier League fixture.

On the back of the game with Paris Saint-Germain in midweek and a trip to Manchester City upcoming on Tuesday night, Unai Emery was always likely to rotate his Villa starting lineup.

However, the Spaniard has opted to make just the four changes to his team for what is a crucial encounter in the race for Champions League qualification.

Most notably, Marcus Rashford has dropped down to the substitutes' bench with Ollie Watkins replacing him down the middle of the attack.

Marco Asensio has also been handed a recall, Amadou Onana only being selected among the replacements and Youri Tielemans dropping into a deeper midfield role.

In defence, Tyrone Mings and Ian Maatsen have been restored at centre-back and left-back, Pau Torres being handed the evening off after recently returning from injury and Lucas Digne being kept in reserve.

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Newcastle named unchanged side

Meanwhile, Newcastle have kept with the same starting lineup that began the 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace in midweek.

While there may have been the temptation to recall Anthony Gordon on one of the flanks, stand-in boss Jason Tindall has left the England international on the bench.

Jacob Murphy has contributed three goals and three assists from his last four outings in the Premier League, while Harvey Barnes has chipped in with four strikes and one assist across the same period.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen; McGinn, Kamara, Tielemans, Asensio; Rogers; Watkins

Subs: Olsen, Disasi, Digne, Garcia, Onana, Barkley, Malen, Rashford, Ramsey

Newcastle United XI: Pope; Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento; Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Barnes

Subs: Dubravka, Wilson, Gordon, Targett, Krafth, Osula, Willock, Longstaff, Miley