Newcastle vs. Aston Villa: Unwanted record looms but Magpies “can hurt every opponent”

Newcastle United are in danger of equalling an unwanted club record in the Premier League when they welcome Aston Villa to St James’ Park on Saturday evening.

The Magpies enter this contest on the back of a bruising 4-1 defeat at newly-promoted Coventry City on Monday, mirroring the scoreline of their previous away loss at Leeds United.

Matthias Jaissle’s side have struggled for consistency in the top flight this term (W2 D2 L2) and have already conceded a joint division-high 13 goals, their third-most after six games of a campaign after 1999-00 (18) and 2021-22 (14).

Newcastle’s defensive frailties have been evident for some time, with only Chelsea shipping as many Premier League goals (44) as the Magpies in 2026, while only Tottenham (13) have lost more league matches than the North-East outfit (12) this calendar year.

At St James’ Park, Newcastle have gone 12 Premier League matches without a clean sheet, and the only time they have ever endured a longer run without conceding on home soil was between December 1998 and August 1999 under former boss Ruud Gullit (13 games).

‘Newcastle can hurt every opponent at home’, says Jaissle

Jaissle is now gearing up his Newcastle side for a tricky test against an improving Aston Villa outfit, who hit Fenerbahce for six in the Champions League on Wednesday and have scored at least three goals in four of their last six games across all competitions.

Despite this, Jaissle is confident that he will see a response from his Magpies players and believes that they “can hurt every opponent” when roared on by the St James’ Park faithful.

“[Villa’s 6-0 win] gives them a huge boost,” Jaissle acknowledged at his pre-match press conference. “They have their problems in the league, but a quality squad picked with such individual class and a coach (Unai Emery) 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.”

Reflecting on Monday’s heavy loss at Coventry, Jaissle said: "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."

Jaissle issues fresh Newcastle injury update before Aston Villa clash

Meanwhile, Jaissle has provided a fresh update on the fitness of his squad, with Anthony Elanga, Tino Livramento and former Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey all still sidelined with injuries.

"Unfortunately, [Elanga has] been out for many, many weeks,” said Jaissle. “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.

"With [Livramento], 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 [Ramsey], 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."

However, Bazoumana Toure "seems to be much better” and could be named in the matchday squad on Saturday after suffering a knock to his knee against Coventry.