Matthias Jaissle says Newcastle can hurt any opponent at St James' Park, but his latest update before Aston Villa's visit also showed how much remains unresolved on the fitness front. Anthony Elanga is still out, Dan Burn is likely not ready to start, and Joelinton is being handled carefully ahead of Newcastle vs Aston Villa.

Newcastle's injury picture before Villa

Jaissle's confidence came after a messy week for Newcastle, who go into the game on the back of a 4-1 defeat at Coventry City on Monday. He still backed the home crowd to make a difference, saying, "We are aware what we are facing, but at home with our crowd backing us, we can hurt every opponent."

The selection news is more cautious. Jaissle said Elanga has been out for "many, many weeks" and should start training again next week, at least partially. He also said Burn is "most likely too short to get the starting position" against Aston Villa, while Joelinton could return quicker.

Villa's threat and Newcastle's warning signs

The concern is not hard to find. Newcastle have conceded 13 goals in six Premier League matches this season, and they have gone 12 league matches without a clean sheet at St James' Park. That is a thin platform against an Aston Villa side who beat Fenerbahce 6-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday and have scored at least three goals in four of their last six matches in all competitions.

Jaissle also pointed to the damage of individual errors, saying, "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."

The debate over Burn and Joelinton is slightly different. ChronicleLive reported that Burn has had longer to train than Joelinton, but still may not have enough time to start, while Joelinton could be quicker to come back. Either way, Newcastle are still short of options for a match that kicks off on 17 October, and they need a cleaner home performance than the one they produced at Coventry.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →